


Supergirl Lies

by tooshoes



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fanon, Unresolved Romantic Tension, confused feelings, it's not incest if one of them is an alien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-04 13:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10992297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tooshoes/pseuds/tooshoes
Summary: I love the Supergirl TV show, but it has one problem that often bugs me: WB crams a ton of story into just over 40 minutes, which can leave a lot of the drama unexplored. So once again, I'm taking it upon myself to fill in those details the way I imagine them.There was one episode that I didn't think worked very well:  S2E9 "Supergirl Lives"This was directed by Kevin Smith, whose movies I've always liked, so I decided to give the episode another chance, and upon a second viewing, it seemed like there was a lot going on behind the scenes. So here is the rest of the story.





	1. Betwixt and Between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The TV episode starts with a big action scene where Supergirl stops some jewel thieves and the Guardian and Winn steal some airtime, but not in this story. If it's not about Kara, I'm not interested.
> 
> Kara is not her usual perky self these days, but she refuses to admit what is wrong.

Supergirl yawned as she looked down upon her now quiet city. Many lights in houses were twinkling off, as the early risers went off to bed. Just a few hours ago, she had helped prevent a burglary; it was a rare moment of excitement these days, because few criminals dared disturb the peace after Supergirl came to town, and fewer still after that Batman wannabe invaded her domain. She should feel happy for the help, but she didn’t. She felt like she was losing something very important to her.

Time to call it a night.

Supergirl landed at a special entrance at the new DEO building in National City that was created just for flight capable agents. The modern tower was an architectural marvel that put to shame the bunker in the desert that they had called headquarters just a few months ago, yet somehow Kara found herself longing for the raw, simple features of the DEO’s old home.

Supergirl ambled inside without any of her usual perkiness, and she was only a few feet through the door before Alex was there to greet her. Today, Alex’s presence filled Kara with as much anxiety as comfort.

Alex paused upon seeing her sister grimacing, then asked, “What happened with the jewel thieves?”

“Nabbed,” Kara replied with the enthusiasm of someone who had just taken out the trash. “I nabbed them. But of course, Guardian had to show up and pick up some of the stragglers. That guy is really starting to get on my nerves.”

“But he did help, that’s something,” Alex tried to steer the conversation in a positive direction.

“Yeah, barely! I’m the one who had to dodge surface to air missiles. All HE had to do is slap cuffs on wrists,” Kara replied, keeping on a negative path like a train on rails.

Alex was too cheerful to be on board with Kara, so she tried to bring this mind trip to a halt. “OK, what’s bothering you?”

They paused at a countertop where agents often shared a snack because they rarely had time to sit down for a real meal. Kara was distracted by a toy gun that was lying on the counter. She picked it up and examined it. It was probably something Winn brought in. Kara looked at it closely with her x-ray vision, wondering if it was really a toy or maybe it was a real gun designed to look like a toy. Then she felt Alex’s stare burrowing into her, and she remembered that Alex had just asked a question. “Who says anything is bothering me?” she finally answered, never looking away from the gun.

Alex could have pointed to a dozen clues, but she broke Kara’s concentration on the toy gun with a tap between Kara’s eyebrows. “Crinkle.”

“Crinkle!” Kara gasped in horror, remembering all of the times Alex called her out on shit because of the dreaded Crinkle. Kara could never play poker against Alex because of her many tells, and right now it really pissed her off. “I’m gonna get botox for that crinkle -- if you can figure out how to get a needle in my skin, that is.”

“Kara!” Alex complained, exasperated by her sister’s obfuscations, then she started to walk away.

Kara suddenly realized that she was shutting Alex out of her heart, and she never meant to do that, so she hurried after Alex and finally tried to answer her question truthfully. “I don’t know. I’m just in a funk.”

Alex stared at Kara patiently. She was not going to be satisfied with Kara’s “funk” explanation, even if it was all Kara had to give, so Kara did a little instant self-analysis. “I mean...stopping jewel thieves? Really? And that bank robbery last week, it’s just … it’s easy. Not really DEO caliber work.”

“So?” Alex asked, amused by that complaint.

“So…” Kara continued deconstructing her funk. “So lately, I feel like I’m protecting jewels and money more than I’m protecting people.”

Kara bit her lip. Another tell. But it was closer to the truth. That kind of mission really did bother her.

“You were a hero tonight,” Alex stared at Kara firmly, as if to rebuke her for speaking shit, and she turned to walk away while adding, “so go home and celebrate.”

But what was there to celebrate? Kara pondered as she watched Alex walk away, and her heart sank in her chest. Was Alex really going to leave her alone, feeling like this? Now Kara felt even worse than before, and she had to stop Alex. “Do you want to come over? We … we could catch up on The Night Of.”

Alex turned back to face Kara reluctantly, seeming to wish she hadn’t heard Kara’s question. “I can’t.”

Alex hesitated because they both knew where this was conversation was going. Lately, it was always going the same place, and Kara felt selfish for making Alex say it, and even more selfish for wanting the answer to be different this time.

“I can’t,” Alex restarted with a goofy love filled grin and a slight bounce in her shoes. “I have plans.”

“Oh!” Kara replied as though it was a surprise, and she forced the biggest smile she could, but Alex knew her too well to buy it.

“Unless you need me to cancel though,” Alex said sincerely, and Kara appreciated the offer, but there was no way Kara could take her up on it, now.

“No,” Kara said, putting on her most encouraging face. “I need you to be with your girlfriend.”

Alex laughed, as though their whole conversation up until then was a joke, and she practiced a line she was trying to get used to saying: “I can’t… I have a girlfriend.”

Kara expected to hear that line over and over in the coming days.

Alex smiled gratefully to Kara.

“Go honey,” Kara said, though she rarely called Alex that, then she waved Alex away, keeping her big, dumb smile shining even after Alex was gone. Kara tried really hard to make that smile true.

***

Kara went home and sat alone on her couch with a large veggie pizza with extra cheese. She would eat that whole pizza all by herself. She had to. She thanked Rao that because of her Kryptonian metabolism she wouldn’t gain an ounce from all of those calories. She might even polish off a pint of ice cream, because if it wasn’t for food, she would feel unbearably lonely tonight.

She refused to watch any episodes of The Night Of, because she held the crazy hope that Alex would be back one day to watch the episodes with her. And even holding that hope made Kara feel ashamed. She should be hoping that Alex and Maggie would be happy for years to come, but she couldn’t keep her heart from wanting what it wanted.

Instead, Kara scanned through the channels, looking for distractions but only finding memories. She paused on Glee; definitely her kind of show, but she just wasn't feeling it today. She paused again on American Horror Story, but that was more Alex's thing. Finally, she settled on an old rerun of Law and Order SVU that she had watched with Alex many years ago.

Back when Kara had first arrived on Earth, Alex had showed Kara about Earth culture by cuddling up with her new sister on the couch and watching TV. At first, they had only watched documentaries and educational television. But when their parents had stopped monitoring their viewing habits, they switched to emotional dramas, murder porn and sci-fi.

As they had grown older and closer, they also got more intimate. It had started on one cold night when Alex moved in close to Kara on the sofa and covered both of them with the same blanket, saying that it only made sense, because Kara was so warm, she could keep them both warm. Kara knew even then that they were being more intimate than most sisters would be, but Kara never had any illusions that she would have a normal life after Krypton.

Then began a period of experimentation, as Alex later called it. Eliza had a much worse name for it, but Eliza was happy when her girls finally came to their senses. It was funny that she had no problem now with her daughter being gay, because she had a lot of problems with the possibility back then.

But Alex finally stopped lying to herself. She finally found love, and Kara was happy for her. She really was.

And now, Kara had the whole sofa and blanket to herself. Now, she pulled the blanket to her chest and watched the SVU rerun, alone.

On the television, a young girl was calling 911, asking for help. The child had been kidnapped and was forced to do unspeakable things, but the girl didn’t know where she was, and nobody could trace her phone. She cried out for help, and the detectives listened, but nobody seemed to really believe her. The more the girl talked on the phone, the more her tale of abuse seemed like a crank call.

Kara believed in the girl. Kara wiped away tears whenever the girl mentioned how helpless she felt. Kara wanted to jump out of the window and search for her. She desperately wanted to save her. It brought Kara no comfort knowing that the girl in the show was not real. The girl’s suffering felt more real to Kara than anything going on in Kara’s own life.

***

A good night sleep put Kara in better spirits the next morning. She even felt better about stopping those jewel thieves last night. It was not the kind of heroism that made her proud to be Supergirl. It wasn’t even the kind of news story she wanted to cover. She prefered people stories that would make her readers feel something, but being a good reporter meant working the story that was given to her. She could do explosions and car chases if she had to. She wished she had stuck around to do interviews, because Snapper was extra grumpy when her stories only included Supergirl as a source.

She typed up her story and arrived early at work only to be forced to wait until Snapper arrived. After years of waiting on Cat, she should have learned to wait patiently at her desk, but as always she was on edge and tarried near the elevator until Snapper emerged.

When that elevator door finally opened, she was on him like a cat pouncing on a mouse. “Hey, Chief, have I got a story for you.”

Snapper was in his normal morning mood. He marched forward and did not look away from his office, as he grumbled, “I get five minutes to myself. Five minutes for my danish and coffee.”

“It’s a great story,” Kara lied. Or at least she felt like it was a lie. “It’s actually an inside look on the jewel heist Supergirl stopped last night.”

An office worker snuck up on Snapper and smoothly slipped the morning Daily Planet under Snappers arm without disturbing him. Kara’s eyes opened in admiration. This was the sort of work dance that Kara had choreographed with Cat over the years, and this man already had it down pat with Snapper after a few weeks.

Then James hurried to intercept Snapper before he could finish his race to his office.

He inserted himself into Kara’s sales pitch: “Actually, I heard the Guardian was pretty instrumental in stopping the heist. And I had some free time this morning, so I wrote a piece on it.”

“Guardian?” Kara snickered. “I mean, sure, he picked up Supergirl’s scraps, but they were firing MISSILES at Supergirl. That’s where the story is. I can’t believe you are still on team Guardian.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” James asked, appearing upset for a moment, then returned to his agreeable smile. “He’s doing a great job, and I…. Well, am I wrong, or didn’t the Guardian actually catch the thieves?”

Kara and James, in their zeal to promote their favorite heroes, forgot all about Snapper and that they were blocking his way to his office. But Snapper finally reminded them, declaring, “In the Venn diagram of things that I care about, there is coffee and there is danish: the manna from heaven that keeps me barely, just barely tethered to the mortal coil.”

Kara and James both held their breaths, as they realized their debate over heroes was best left for another time.

James squeezed his folder under Snappers arm, next to the newspaper and walked away.

Kara remained behind, which prompted Snapper to snap, “I told you to leave me alone.”

“Right,” Kara replied uncomfortably, “my desk is over here.”

Kara stepped out of Snapper’s way, but before he could take his final few steps into his office, a middle aged woman jumped into his path, blocking him yet again. She was dressed casually, but the look in her eyes was harrowing.

“Who are you?” Snapper asked.

“I need your help,” she replied, ensuring that Snapper would not get to drink his coffee while it was hot that morning.

Snapper sighed and glanced at Kara, as if begging Kara to save him from this imposition.

Kara, always the hero, introduced herself to the lady, Ms Williams, and guided her to a couch in Snapper’s office, allowing her boss to get himself settled and take at least a few sips of coffee. When Snapper finally put his coffee aside, he folded his hands in front of him on his desk and merely said to the lady, “Go on.”

“My daughter Izzy disappeared three days ago,” she began, immediately reminding Kara of the SVU episode she watched last night. “We had a fight. She told me that I never trust her judgement. She slammed the door as she left… She never came home.”

Kara’s heart was breaking. She completely forgot about the crappy jewel thief story she was pushing on Snapper just a few minutes before. This missing girl drama was exactly the kind of news story that made her want to be a reporter and a Superhero.

Ms. Williams opened up her purse and withdrew a few sheets of paper and handed them to Snapper. He didn’t seem interested, so Kara accepted the sheets from her and looked into the eyes of the lost girl printed on the paper. Izzy’s mother continued: “I put these pictures up all over. I called her friends, her father, no one has heard from her. The police just say that she’s a runaway. They said that there isn’t anything they can do.”

“Has your daughter ever run away before?” Snapper asked in the same tone that he always used when dismissing one of Kara’s news stories.

Ms. Williams had seen this attitude from cops all day, so her eyes fell towards the ground in defeat, but she wasn’t giving up without a fight. After a long pause, she continued tearfully, “It was my birthday yesterday. She would have called me if ... She didn’t run away. I know something’s wrong!”

Snapper sighed and said nothing, apparently unmoved by her tears.

Kara couldn’t just stand by while he did nothing. She grabbed a few tissues from the dispenser on Snapper’s desk and handed them to the grieving mother and promised, “We’re going to get her story out there, Ms. Williams. We’re going to find your daughter.”

Kara’s voice was full of hope and confidence, and Ms. Williams stood up and embraced her, finally assured that someone would help. She smiled at them both and said thank you, before she hurried out of the office, ready to repeat her pleas to anyone else who would listen.

Once the grieving mother was out of earshot, Snapper rebuked Kara quietly but with such condescension that he might as well have yelled it while slamming his fist on the desk: “‘We’re going to find your daughter!?’ Why would you tell her that?”

“Because we’re going to help her,” Kara replied as though stating the obvious, but when she looked up, she couldn’t believe what she saw in Snapper’s eyes. “We ARE going to help, right?”

“Teenage runaways are not news. They are cliches. And we have more important stories to cover,” Snapper corrected Kara with his usual the-world-is-cruel-get-used-to-it attitude.

“More important…?” Kara repeated, aghast. “What’s more important than a mother finding her daughter?”

The memory of her own mother’s last goodbye was never very far away in Kara’s memory. Kara suddenly worried if she could really be a reporter if that meant she had to give up her heart.

Snapper did not look like he gave a shit, as he repeated the list of things that mattered to him at that moment much more than a lost girl: “My coffee and my danish and the five minutes of peace and quiet you stole from me.”

Kara could barely contain her anger. She marched out of the room before she would say something she’d regret.

She always tried to give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Snapper had a bad day. Maybe he had a miserable life. Maybe his mother was a real piece of work and had ruined his appreciation for the institution of motherhood forever.

James was standing at Kara’s desk as she marched away from Snapper. Maybe he was there to apologize for what happened earlier when they were competing over a silly story about the rescue of a few worthless gems. Maybe he was just trying to be a friend.

Kara walked right by him.

Nothing personal. She was just on a mission now, an important one, and she wanted for nothing to distract her. If there was a chance of helping a mother and daughter reunite, she didn’t care what Snapper or anyone else thought, she was going to make it happen. If she didn’t stand up for this cause, what did it even mean to be a supergirl, anyway?

***

On bad days, Kara needed a quiet place to think. She needed privacy.

Being a Superhero was easy for her. Just jump up in the sky and observe. Being a reporter was much harder. When following a scoop, she never knew where to start looking.

Kara went upstairs to where Winn had set up their special operations center last year. There wasn’t much left of the place. All of the computers and equipment were hastily moved out when Winn had left CatCo for the DEO, and the only evidence that was left of their secret hideout were a few computer keyboards and one of Winn’s Transformer toys.

Kara picked up the toy and wondered what it was supposed to be in it’s current configuration: a character or a vehicle?

God, she missed the old days. Whenever CatCo needed to solve a mystery, Cat would issue these crazy demands that didn’t seem to make sense, and her minions would scramble, and somehow everything worked out. Why did things always have to change?

Kara did not always agree with Cat, but Cat would NEVER tell Kara to ignore a frightened mother’s appeal for help.

Kara wiped her eyes, and only then did she realize that she was crying.

“What is this?” she asked, amazed at her own weakness, but the tears kept coming.

She picked up the phone and hit redial. She listened as the phone rang seven times and then switched to voicemail.

Kara hung up, and she felt like screaming. She felt like she couldn’t rely on anyone, anymore.

Then, less than a minute later, her phone rang.

“Hello,” Kara replied instantly with relief evident in her voice.

“Kara?” Alex asked curiously. “You didn’t leave a message. You ALWAYS leave a message. Sorry, I didn’t answer, Hank was just chewing us out for … well, it was stupid.”

“I’m sorry,” Kara apologized urgently. “I’m just so frustrated. Snapper is the perfect example of what is wrong with this world. He has so much power to do good, but he doesn’t want to use it. He just wants to drink his coffee and relax and pretend like he doesn’t have any responsibility…” Then Kara’s eyes widened in horrified realization. “Oh shit… Is that what I was like all of those years? Was I that bad?”

“Calm down!” Alex insisted. “You were never anything like Snapper. Just tell me what happened.”

So Kara described Ms William’s visit and the task Kara had taken upon herself. Then she concluded with, “I just don’t know where to start looking, but I need to do something. I HAVE to find this girl!”

“You know who you should talk to?” Alex answered enthusiastically. “Maggie.”

“Maggie?” Kara replied hesitantly.

“Yes, Maggie,” Alex insisted, clearly annoyed by Kara’s lack of enthusiasm. “She works for the police, remember? She might already be aware of the case, and anyway she has really good detective skills.”

“Oh, ok, Maggie, of course,” Kara quickly corrected her attitude.

“Do you have her number?” Alex asked, then quickly changed her mind. “Actually, she always likes to get a coffee and sandwich for lunch at that alien bar. I can ask her to meet you there and bring any information she has.”

“You won’t be coming?” Kara asked, trying to hide her disappointment.

“I got into the DEO late this morning,” Alex replied mysteriously, “so I’ll have to stay a little late so Hank doesn’t accuse me of slacking off. He’s in a really pissy mood today.”

“Oh, OK. Do you want to come over later? I have some leftover pizza,” Kara lied.

“Nah, I’m already exhausted. I think I’ll fall asleep as soon as I walk through my apartment door tonight,” Alex said. Kara could tell she was lying, too.

“Oh, well, thanks for helping me out. It really means a lot to me,” Kara said sincerely.

“Of course. What are sisters for, anyways?” Alex replied, emphasizing the word ‘sisters’. “But don’t thank me. Thank Maggie when you see her.”

***

“I’m such a terrible reporter!” Kara cursed herself aloud.

Snapper had assigned her to cover a political rally, and she had Izzy Williams’ picture photo on her desk right beside the mouse, and she had a blank Google page sitting in front of her, waiting for search instructions. But she just sat there as if paralyzed, doing nothing.

She couldn’t focus.

It was all because of the last thing Alex had said to her on the phone. Alex described themselves as “sisters,” which of course they were. And of course they were NOT. Whenever they had described themselves to people as “sisters”, there was always the unstated qualifier that Kara had been adopted by Alex’s family when they were teenagers.

The way Alex had used the word “sisters” on the phone, it was like she wanted to erase that qualifier. She wanted to change their relationship. Clarify it.

And that bothered Kara, because there were some parts of their relationship that most people didn’t know about. Parts that the family had tried to bury in the past, just like the family had buried Kara’s real identity for years.

Now the truth was becoming complicated again, and Alex wanted to simplify it with another lie. She wanted to unqualify “sisters.” She wanted for Kara to accept the lie as true.

It was like they were putting another nail in a coffin before finally burying it completely underground.

Kara looked at the clock. 12:35. She was supposed to meet Maggie at 1 pm, and the bar was only ten minutes away, but Kara couldn’t stand all of the waiting. She just wanted to get this over with quickly.

***

Going to a tavern in the middle of the day felt odd to Kara, especially a bar as hidden away as this one. The building didn’t even have a name or a sign outside. That was the kind of bar people go to at night.

Of course, this was not a normal tavern. It catered to aliens and anyone who felt alienated. Kara would feel totally at home here, if she wasn’t on a mission that involved meeting up with her sister’s girlfriend.

As expected, Kara arrived early and Maggie was nowhere in sight, so Kara walked directly to the bar. This establishment was one of a very select few that could actually serve Kara capable of delivering the usual alcohol affect, but Catco did not approve of drinking on the job. Kara was here to follow a story even if it was not a story authorized by Snapper.

“Excuse me,” Kara said while looking around for the bartender, then she noticed his butt sticking out from under the beer taps, while he did inventory or whatever bartenders did during slow hours. “Oh hi,” Kara said while settling herself on a stool, “could I just have a club soda?”

Then the bartender stood up with a big smile on his face, saying, “Hey!”

Kara’s eyes opened in surprise when she recognized that her bartender was Mon-El. Despite a dozen problems competing for her attention, she matched his smile and said, “Hi!”

“Hi,” Mon-El said, posing like he had just appeared via a magic trick.

“Do you work here?” Kara asked.

“I do. Yeah, you know after the, um… Gosh, the incident,” Mon-El tried to explain without minimizing the mass murder that had occurred there only a few weeks earlier, “they were a little... short staffed, so I took a job.”

“Mmm, Hmm,” Kara replied, not sure whether to feel happy for Mon-El or sad at the circumstances around his hire.

And then he had to ruin it by saying, “And you know I like alcohol, so I just really feel like this will be a great job for me.”

Kara looked away, suddenly angry. She was disappointed that this would be his career choice, just like she had been disappointed in many of Mon-El’s life choices thus far, but she had to remind herself that he was still just getting his feet wet in this world, and she had no right to pass judgement on his choices. At least he was happy. It took Kara ten years to grow into her destiny, and she still wasn’t happy with her life.

Then she realized that she wasn’t angry at Mon-El at all. She was jealous of him. She was angry at herself.

Instead of attacking his choice of a career, she moped, “I’m glad that someone feels like they fit in somewhere.”

Mon-El was pouring a drink for Kara when he noticed that something was wrong. “Oh, that’s a sad sound. Want to tell me what’s going on?” he said while handing her a drink. “Come on, talk to me. I’m a bartender now.”

Kara rolled her eyes for no particular reason except that she didn’t want to look in Mon-El’s eyes. He was trying to be charming and doing a damned good job of it, and Kara didn’t want to be charmed.

“I’ve just been feeling betwixt and between of late,” she answered enigmatically, challenging his mastery of the language.

“Betwixt and between…” Mon-El repeated, pondering what she was not saying. Betwixt and between what? But he was not rude enough to ask. He would be a fine bartender, if he gave it a chance.

Before Mon-El could explore Kara’s vague complaint, she remembered her purpose in coming to the bar that afternoon, and she wanted to talk about that instead. “But a story came across my desk today. A missing girl. I’m going to find her.”

Mon-El took Kara’s attitude in. He could see the missing girl was merely a distraction. He could see that Kara was navigating her life without a beacon to guide her, and that was an experience he knew something about. “Can I offer you some unsolicited advice?”

“Do I…?” Kara tried to interrupt him. Mon-El? giving her advice? That she could not handle.

“If you go looking for trouble,” Mon-El prophesied awkwardly, “trouble ye shall find.”

Kara winced at how poorly that came out of his mouth. “Thank you for the completely useless advice,” she said, then she tried to wash away the bad taste from her mouth with a swig of the club soda.

Which she promptly spat out when the bitter taste of alcohol touched her tastebuds. “And that is NOT club soda.”

“Yeah, what exactly IS club soda?” Mon-El asked innocently.

Kara sighed and looked away, embarrassed that she had even considered opening up to him. She saw Maggie entering the bar, and that was her cue to escape, so she jumped off the stool and left Mon-El suddenly at the bar alone, wondering what had happened.

So Kara hurried from one awkward situation to another. At least Maggie wasn’t going to ask Kara any personal questions or give unsolicited advice. Alex promised Kara that Maggie would help her, and here she was. All business. At least Kara knew where she stood with Maggie.

“Thanks for meeting with me,” Kara told Maggie with a polite smile, as both women sat down at a table far away from the bar.

“Oh, always happy to help a Danvers,” Maggie replied back, mirroring Kara’s smile, then she passed a flash drive across the table to Kara. “Here is the missing persons report on Izzy Williams that we have, but unfortunately it’s not all that much.”

Kara shrugged. “Well, every little bit counts,” she said, then she put the flash drive into her purse.

“You know, it’s funny you asked for that,” Maggie said.

Kara looked up. “Why?”

“Well, we’ve just had a spike in missing persons over the last few weeks.”

Kara was intrigued. “Do you have any theories? Serial killer? Kidnappings?”

“Serial killers have patterns. Kidnappers have motive. But what’s odd is there’s nothing to connect these disappearances, neither pattern nor motive. There’s Izzy Williams. A father of four. A college student. The list goes on.”

“And they’ve all disappeared,” Kara digested the information, and then repeated the question of the day: “Where are they?”

***

Neither girl could stick around for lunch. Kara thanked Maggie for her help, Maggie nodded, and then they went their separate ways.

Kara was determined to put the facts together on Izzy and her fellow missing persons, but Kara wasn’t good at solving puzzles that required mulling over details. Her mind would always wander after a few minutes.

While she walked back toward Catco, she wondered what exactly it was that Alex saw in Maggie. She was pretty, of course, and she was nice, but there was nothing so special about her that Kara could determine. Maggie was just a straight shooter who knew who she was, and she let everyone know it. Alex coming out as Maggie’s girlfriend was uncomplicated, as uncomplicated as coming out as gay ever was, anyway. Maybe that was all Alex ever needed.

Kara didn’t want to think about that anymore. It was unsettling. It made her feel physically sick and even a little angry. Kara had been patient all of these years, so she felt like she was a victim, like Alex discovering who she was with Maggie meant that Kara was losing her own identity. Kara felt adrift.

Betwixt and between.

She couldn’t stop thinking about it. She was letting herself remember what she had been determined to forget. She was letting herself imagine what was unsafe to consider. Something very complicated.

If she was looking for trouble, then she would find it.

Maybe when Mon-El warned Kara about the dangers of search, he wasn’t talking about Kara hunt for Izzy.

“Yeah right!” Kara said and laughed a little too loudly on the crowded sidewalk. How could she think for even a minute that that party-loving playboy could understand what was going on in her mind? No, he was just trying to talk Kara out of being a hero, like he often did. It was sweet if he just wanted to keep her safe, but knowing Mon-El, he was merely giving that advice because it was what he would do in the same situation.

And that was a good enough reason to do the opposite.

So Kara was even more determined now to find Izzy, but even with the newly acquired information Maggie gave her, Kara didn’t know where to start. Catco didn’t have the right kinds of databases for her to conduct her research, nor could she ask any of the Catco employees to help her, because she was not authorized to pursue this story.

Kara hesitated before entering the Catco building, as the solution suddenly hit her. Of course! She just needed to talk with Winn. Winn would help her. Why didn’t she think of him before? All she had to do was fly to the DEO. What was stopping her?

***

Winn was a little aloof when Kara arrived, not even looking up when he heard her voice. That did not help put Kara’s troubled soul at ease.

“Hey Winn, could you look at the people on this flash drive?,” Kara said as she hovered over his desk. He reached back without looking, and Kara handed him the information. “They are all missing. Could you check for, um, any links between them, their histories...”

Winn said nothing and just plugged away at his computer, making Kara wonder if he was upset with her. He didn’t seem like himself at all.

Kara finally asked,“Are you aware that you are wearing sunglasses?”

Of course he was.

Winn didn’t respond.

“Indoors?” Kara pressed again.

“The future is so very bright,” he replied as if it was a clever response, but it only confirmed Kara suspicion that he was hiding something from her.

Kara didn’t even have to use her x-ray vision to see that Winn’s left eye did not look right, and she finally had enough of Winn’s weak efforts to keep an obvious secret from her. She pulled his glasses off before he could stop her.

“Hey!” he complained with a mixture of anger and shame. “No no …”

Kara gasped at the size and color of the bruise that framed his eye. Kara was familiar with the pain and danger that usually accompanied such injuries, but she had less tolerance for it when it happened to one of her friends. “What happened to you?” she demanded.

“I got mugged,” Winn explained quickly, then tried to defuse Kara’s concern with, “It’s fine.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kara complained, not ready to calm down. She really hated when her friends hid their feelings from her.

But Winn was not ready to expose his pain to her. He was too ashamed. Instead he went right back to analyzing the flash drive Kara had given him. “I’ll have that information for you very shortly,” he said, typing even faster.

Kara stared at him in disbelief. Winn was keeping secrets from her. Not long ago, whenever anything was bothering Winn, he would come to her. Another of her friends was drifting away from her.

Even so, he was evading her questions by helping her with her investigation, so perhaps she was being selfish, asking even more of him.

Winn typed away while Kara watched over his shoulder, marvelling how his mouse pointer ricocheted from window to window, search engine to database to command screen.

She didn’t notice that someone was approaching.

“Hey,” Alex said, catching Kara’s ear.

“Hi,” Kara replied, as her attention swung away from Winn.

“Hi,” Alex said a moment later, now standing beside Kara and Winn with a bright smile on her face.

“Hi!” Kara repeated, this time as if greeting a different person. Alex did not look like the sleep deprived woman she had claimed to be on the phone earlier. She was glowing, and despite the angst and doubts Kara had been feeling all day, Alex was looking so beautiful to her.

“What?” Alex asked, confused by Kara’s expression.

“Look at you!” Kara smiled, taking Alex in, laughing.

“What??” Alex demanded, looking like she was on some kind of happy drug.

“Are you kidding? You look like you’ve been shot with a love ray.”

“Oh,” Alex rolled her eyes. She thought hard about what to say, wondering how Kara would react, then she simply revealed, “Well, Maggie slept over last night.”

“Oh my!” Kara said, reaching out to hold Alex’s hand and congratulate her. “Oh, my God!”

Kara was truly happy for Alex, even if she didn’t want to know the details. It was enough to know that Alex was finally finding someone who could make her happy.

A few DEO agents walked by, and Alex instinctively stood up straight and donned a serious demeanor. “Do you think everyone can tell?” she asked, worried.

Kara swallowed, suddenly wondering how secure Alex was in her sexuality after all. Or maybe Alex was just concerned about seeming professional.

Winn clapped his hand and spun around in his swivel chair and said, “Ok.”

Winn had forgot that he was no longer wearing the sunglasses, so Alex winced when she saw his face. “Hey, what happened to you?”

Kara gave him a dirty look, daring him to tell the truth.

But Winn just smiled broadly and doubled-down. “I got mugged, and I am fine… and it hurts to smile.” Then he turned back to his computer screen and waved Kara in closer. “Okay, so there IS a connection between those people on your list.”

Kara and Alex both stepped up behind him

“They all had blood work a few days before they disappeared,” he said while showing a few computer screens only he could understand.

“Blood work? That’s weird,” Kara pondered. She had been expecting something more nefarious.

“Yeah, it’s all part of a research project,” Winn said, then he typed in a few more commands and a laboratory appeared on the screen, along with a few magazine ads containing phone numbers to the laboratory. “And guess where they advertise...Catco Magazine.”

“Oh my god, you’re amazing!” Kara laughed then kissed Winn right above his eye, and said playfully to the bruise. “And you get better.”

Alex was watching Kara more than she was watching the computer screen or Winn. “It’s missing persons. I can help with that,” Alex stated, suddenly looking even happier and more excited than a minute ago. In fact, she was bouncing like an excited puppy. “Do you want me to come along?”

Kara’s face turned strict. Alex was doing it again, but now it was Kara’s turn to be the responsible one. “No, no, you just keep on glowing.”

Now, Alex’s smile looked forced. “Okay.”

Kara waved goodbye and quickly hurried out the door.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want Alex with her. In fact, she wanted nothing more, and she felt a little bit more empty as soon as she had walked away. But Alex needed to spend time with Maggie. Kara didn’t want to mess up Alex’s chance at happiness. Not this time.

So she furrowed her brow and headed back to Catco, alone.


	2. Alex Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mon-El is drawn into Kara's quest for Izzy, and he follows her everywhere, even to another world. 
> 
> Alex and Maggie are having a good time, until Kara goes missing, and Alex needs to figure out how to manage her growing love for Maggie with her love for her sister, which she had been taking for granted.

The night was still young at the bar. The music volume was down, and crowd was still shuffling in.

“Hey there … uh, Mike,” Alex said as she sat down on a tall stool. Maggie sat down beside her. Both girls were dressed in black, as usual, but wearing sexier clothes than Mon-El was used to seeing them wear.

“Hi!” he replied, surprised, while casually wiping off drinking glasses, as though that was all bartenders did between serving drinks. He leaned towards Alex, saying, “I think you can call me Mon-El, here. You guys are about the only non-aliens that ever come here.”

“Mike,” Alex insisted. “Can we get a few drinks?”

“Sure, what would you like?” he asked, then immediately warned, “I’ll try not to screw it up, but I don’t really know these Earth drinks.”

“Think you can manage two red wines?” Maggie asked. “Whatever is the cheapest on that wall.”

“Sure,” Mon-El agreed enthusiastically as he dutifully grabbed a couple of beer mugs.

Alex was about to correct him, but Maggie put up the stop sign with her hand and a giggle. Mon-El contemplated a bottle of merlot, expecting to find a bottle cap, but he was rendered helpless by the cork.

After a good laugh, the girls finally helped Mon-El with the basics of serving wine.

If Mon-El was embarrassed, he didn’t show it. He immediately got back into bartender mode and started wiping glasses again. “Now, what brings you ladies here tonight?”

“I’m here almost every night,” Maggie said.

“Maybe a few games of pool,” Alex planned on the fly. “Then who knows where we’ll go from there.”

“Have you seen Kara around?” Mon-El asked casually. “My shift is almost up, and I was wondering if maybe she could … well, teach me some stuff.”

“Yeah, right,” Maggie giggled, imagining what the perky CatCo reporter could teach him. “Need some help with your interviewing skills?”

Alex shushed Maggie. “I’ll bet she’s beating herself up over this missing person case. Detective work is not her thing, so I offered to help, but she was determined to do it on her own.”

Mon-El frowned. “Is it dangerous?”

“It shouldn’t be,” Alex replied with an uncomfortable laugh. “But somehow everything Kara touches gets a little crazy.”

“Yeah,” Mon-El muttered, suddenly worried.

“Hey,” Alex tried to get his attention. “I’m sure she’s fine. She always ends up fine. Why don’t you text her?”

“Oh, no!” Mon-El shook his head vigorously, then he smiled. “Of course she’s fine.”

Then he abruptly walked out of the bar, without even waiting for someone to take over his shift.

Maggie smiled and mouthed “Wow!”

“What?” Alex asked.

“That boy’s gone!” Maggie tried to clarify, and when Alex didn’t understand immediately, she continued, “You know he’s in love with your sister, right?”

Alex shrugged, “Well, sure, he’s got a little crush…”

“No,” Maggie insisted. “That boy is head over heels!”

Alex was getting nervous, because Maggie also knew Mon-El liked Supergirl and would quickly make the connection, so she tried to distract Maggie, saying, “Just like I’m head over heels for you!”

Maggie blushed slightly and said, “That’s nice. I mean, I really care about you, too, but this is more of a slow burn thing.”

Alex felt offended, and she insisted, half joking but totally serious: “I didn’t know what love is until I met you.”

Maggie’s voice grew stern. “Oh, sure you did. We don’t suddenly discover love at our age. What about that girl in high school you told me about? Or that other girl you liked to cuddle and watch TV with? I was just the first girl you felt you could confess your feelings to. It took us both a long time to get here. But that’s OK. You don’t have to prove anything. I’m not looking for a wild ride.  I’m just so happy we’re here, now.”

Alex wasn’t sure how she felt about what Maggie had just said, but she said quietly, “Me, too.”

Then they didn’t say anything for a while. They sipped their wine and stared into each other’s eyes. They kissed.

***

Kara spent the night alone at home, looking over the missing persons reports that Maggie had given her, and the documents describing the laboratory Winn had pointed her to, but she was frustrated that she wasn’t getting anywhere. It was like she was spending all of her free time trying to add two numbers together. She knew that Alex or Winn would have solved this case already.

She jumped when her phone rang, with a momentary hope that Alex was calling. Alex used to call every night. But the ring was wrong, and caller-ID couldn’t identify the caller, so she let it go to voicemail. No message. They couldn’t have wanted to talk very badly.

She finally ended the night in front of the TV on the couch, under a quilt, hugging a giant teddy bear Alex had given her for Christmas two years ago.

***

The next morning, Snapper was biting Kara’s head off after she turned in a 148 word paragraph on the climate change rally in the middle of National City.

“I gave you the easiest assignment. All you had to do was show up and do a few interviews, but instead you just called a few witnesses after the fact. Are you trying to get fired?”

Kara swallowed. “Do you remember that missing persons case?”

Snapper threw his hands in the air, exasperated.

But Kara pushed on. “Well, now it’s several people missing, and I found out that they all have volunteered for scientific experiments after seeing ads we published at CatCo.”

Snapper stared at Kara silently for a moment, then he threw up his hands in frustration again, “So why am I not seeing sources? Why haven’t you got the police on record? I’ll probably see this splattered on the front page of the Daily Planet or on CNN before you have something I can print!”

Kara nodded. She scribbled down notes while she hurried out of the room before he could regroup with another wave of attacks. She really, really hated when people yelled at her. She made a beeline towards the elevator, which was mercifully opening as she arrived.

“Hey, Kara,” a voice said.

“Hey,” she replied politely, as she hurried onto the elevator, still scribbling notes.

Then the words “Hey, Kara” repeated in her mind. That voice…

She spun around and saw Mon-El waiting patiently outside of the elevator. “Um… wait…” She stepped forward, blocking the elevator from closing. “What are you doing here?”

“I took the day off,” he said, looking so relaxed it was irritating.

“But it’s your second day,” she commented.

“Yeah, didn’t want to overdo it,” he explained as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

Kara stared at him in stunned amazement. She had barely had enough sleep or food since they saw each other yesterday, and he was already slacking off.

Then Mon-El asked, “So … lunch?”

“Uh,” Kara uttered, hating that he mentioned food, because she hadn’t any breakfast, but she was in a hurry so no time to eat. She jumped back inside the elevator. “No, actually, I’m working.”

“Oh, great. I’ll come with you,” he said with a smile, ready to follow her back onto the elevator.

“Oh? I-I don’t think so,” Kara shook her head, feeling a bit frazzled and confused. Why would he want to go with her? She was a mess, looking totally nerdy, wearing unflattering work clothes that she hadn’t changed in two days, and no makeup. She was carrying a backpack, for Rao’s sake. Wouldn’t he rather be with Eve Tessmacher? She was more his type.

Sure, he had called Kara beautiful just a couple of weeks ago. He had even kissed her in his incapacitated state, and Kara had been foolish enough to believe that she really meant something to him. But then he didn’t remember once he was himself again. Kara wished she didn’t remember, either.

“Oh, come on,” he pressed. “It will be fun. You want to find that missing girl, right?”

Fun??? Kara cringed.  She felt depression blow over her. Everything felt so wrong, and suddenly all that she had been running away from the past few days felt like it was catching up with her. Did he really want to be a part of that? Why the hell was he smiling so much?

“Hey, two heads are always better than one?” he persisted. “Except on planet Barvex, because they have two-headed cannibals.”

“Fine,” Kara conceded. “You can come.”

“Yes?” he said, then stepped into the elevator beside him.

“Just keep your mouth shut,” she insisted.

“Of course,” he said, then immediately continued talking as the elevator doors closed. “Have I told you about the time…”

***

The lab was a ten minute walk from CatCo, which was more than enough time for Kara to tell Mon-El everything she knew about the missing people and the lab.

It was also enough time for Mon-El to tell Kara how many times he screwed up at work yesterday.

“But Alex and Maggie showed me how to use a cork-screw, so now I can serve wine,” he said. "Only about 100 more drinks to learn."

“Alex and Maggie were there?” Kara asked, suddenly interested. “How … uh, how did they seem?”

“Huh?” Mon-El asked.

“I mean, did they seem happy?”

“Oh, yeah, they seemed like two people on a date,” he said simply.

Kara rolled her eyes and tried again, “but were they having fun on their date?”

Mon-El shrugged. “They were kissing while I poured their wine, so I guess so. Is that what you wanted to know?”

Kara nodded, but she would rather have not known that.

***

When they arrived at the National City Clinical Research Center, they were greeted by a pretty girl at the counter. Kara had been hoping to interview the scientist, but the receptionist made it clear that they were only interested in conducting experiments, not interviews, so Kara volunteered both Mon-El and herself as test subjects.

“Great,” the girl said, and had them fill out paper forms on clipboards. Then she disappeared into the back of the building without any hint of when she would return.

Kara grabbed a few jellybeans from a complimentary bowl on the counter, and then they sat down in the waiting room and waited, where there was nothing to read but two issues of Highlights magazine.

_A kid’s magazine?_ Kara thought to herself. _How many children do these people experiment on?_

Mon-El poured over one of the magazines, laughing and showing the magazine to Kara, as though he was a big child himself.

Kara smiled and watched and slowly ate the candy, but then she realized that with every bite, she only grew hungrier, because she had been starving herself all day.

When she ate the last bean, she jumped up and grabbed a handful more. She hurried back to her seat before anyone could witness her abuse of the candy bowl.

Mon-El laughed and asked, “Question: do you think I’m more of a Goofus or more of a Gallant?” Referring to the magazine’s comic examples of a bad boy and a good boy.

“Goofus,” Kara answered immediately, though instantly realizing that her raiding of the candy bowl was hardly Gallant behavior.

Suddenly the door opened, and Kara devoured the candy at super-human speed,  more worried about appearing like a pig than of exposing her powers.

“Well, well, well,” said the doctor with a wide, overly friendly smile when he appeared at the door. “Hello.”

“Hi,” Kara and Mon-El said at once. They stood politely and tried to remember the cover story they had barely practiced.

“They told me two strapping young millennials had dropped by,” he said suspiciously. “And here you are.”

“Yes, we work out a lot,” Mon-El said, forgetting that Kara wanted to do all of the talking.

But Kara smiled good-naturedly and let it slide. “Yes, we wanted to get a better idea of what you do here before jumping in. We saw your ad, but when we looked at your website, it just said we could make some quick cash.”

Mon-El put an arm around Kara and spoke enthusiastically, as though they were a just married couple. “Yeah, and we’re trying to save up for a trip to Paris city.”

“It’s just Paris,” Kara whispered.

“Paris,” Mon-El repeated, his goofy smile never wavering.

_Oh, boy_ , Kara thought: _He’s a worse liar than even me_!

“Well, we’re currently running a clinical trial on a supplement that is just coming to the market,” the doctor explained.

“Oh,” Kara said, smiling, but wondering what any of this had to do with Izzy’s disappearance.

The doctor continued explaining while collecting the forms his young volunteers had just signed: “We’re just looking to examine the effect of the supplement on base metabolic rates. So all we need to do is some blood work before beginning, and then we’ll have you in and out and off to Paris City in no time,” he said with a laugh.

_Oh no, blood work!_ Kara thought. _How could I have forgotten to be prepared for that? Damn, Mon-El, you’ve really distracted me._

“Um, well, actually we can’t give blood,” Kara said, thinking quickly. “I mean we could, but that’s, uh, against our religion.”

“Yes,” Mon-El added, trying to follow Kara’s lead. “We’re very religious. We’re very into our Gods.”

“One God,” Kara whispered.

“One God,” Mon-El repeated, and added as if it was all a big joke: “We are madly monotheistic.”

Kara couldn’t help but laugh. They totally screwed this up. If Kara had screwed it up on her own, the doctor would be on to her, but somehow Mon-El made it seem like they were just having playful fun.

The doctor laughed, too, and looked the two volunteers over. “Well,  you both look young and healthy enough, and this isn’t too stressful, so let’s give it the old college try, shall we?”

“Are you newlyweds?” the doctor asked casually, as he led them down a hall towards the back of the building.

“No,” Kara replied a little too fast. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he shrugged, as he opened a door and led them down yet another hall. “You just have that air about you.”

Kara bit her lip and looked at Mon-El, who seemed more concerned with where they were being led than what the doctor was saying.

“How did you hear about our study?” the doctor asked with a suspicious tone, as he led them into a very large room. “We have a recruiter, but she didn’t tell us to expect anyone today.”

“Uh, well, actually a friend of mine told us about it,” Kara replied. “It’s weird, because I haven’t heard from her since she came here.

“You stand here,” the doctor said to Kara, pointing at the ground and ignoring what Kara was saying. And to Mon-El: “And you ... stand here.”

Kara could sense that he was hiding something, but she decided to push forward with her questions anyway. “Well, maybe you remember her. Izzy Williams?”

“Yes, she did come through here,” he said quickly. Too quickly.

Then he pulled a tarp off of a large structure that looked kind of like a giant, opened gateway.

“What is that?” Mon-El asked. His good humor was long gone now.

The doctor ignored the question as he walked beside the gate and pressed a few buttons on it’s control panel. Suddenly the gate exploded with light and within looked like a whirlpool flipped on it’s side.

“You said you wanted to travel,” the doctor said with an evil face, that suddenly transformed into that of a lizard.

Kara and Mon-El were so surprised, they didn’t notice that two brutes had snuck up behind them and started pushing them towards the portal.

Kara spun around and shoved one brute across the room into a wall, while everyone watched in surprise.

A moment later, Mon-El downed the other brute with a single punch.

The lizard-doctor, aware that the predators were suddenly the prey, leaped through the mysterious gate before Kara could think about stopping him.

Kara needed only a moment to decide what she would do next. She started pulling her shirt off, as she approached the gate.

“What are you doing?” Mon-El asked urgently.

“Go back to the DEO,” Kara said, slowing down her usual costume change to normal speed, as she instructed Mon-El. “Tell Alex what happened and make sure a strike team follows me.”

“But, uh…” Mon-El stammered with wide eyes, as Kara threw one item of clothes after another at him, seemingly oblivious that she was half naked for a long moment when she changed at mere human speed.

“I’m going in there,” she finally said, now fully Supergirl.

“Right, um … We don’t know what’s on the other side.”

“Izzy is on the other side,” Supergirl said, “and that’s all that matters.”

Mon-El’s eyes showed real concern, making her pause for a moment, but when he stepped forward to stop her, she turned away and leaped into the unknown.

***

When Supergirl landed on the other side, it was like awakening from a dream. Suddenly, she was standing in some kind of mountainous desert, far away from home. The sky looked like the sun was setting, and everything was weakly lit. Even accounting for the instant change of scenery, she felt odd: heavy, tingly and a little dizzy.

And then she felt pain, because she was thrown to the ground when another lizard creature attacked her from behind, slamming her body to the ground. This thug was dressed in body armor instead of doctor’s clothes, and his skin seemed like spiky armor as well.

She jumped up quickly and drove her fist into her attacker’s face, downing him with one punch, but also sending a sharp pain down her knuckles. Supergirl shook her hand, as if to shake away the pain.

A second fighter charged her from her other side, and she was ready for him with another punch. He went down, too, but not out, and now Kara keeled over, holding her hand. Blood streamed down her fist, and she was afraid she had broken something.

Next she felt her knees wobble unsteadily, and she looked up to the sky, and saw the planet’s giant red sun bearing down on her. A sense of doom twisted her heart as she looked at the barren environment around her.

She didn’t notice that one of the lizard fighters was now standing up again and pointing some kind of firearm at her, ready to fire.

But a flash of light emerged from the gate that she had just arrived through, and that caught her attention.

Mon-El leaped into this world just in time to pound the lizard man back to the ground with a massive upper cut. Mon-El seemed at full strength upon arriving, but in just a few seconds, even he appeared tired.

“What are you doing here,” the not-so-super girl asked the less-than-super boy.

“Uh,” Mon-El started breathlessly, “I thought you might need my help.”

Kara looked down, feeling embarrassed, because Mon-El might have been right.

“Hey, you’re bleeding,” he said when he saw her hand.

“That,” Kara explained, pointing to the sky, “is a red sun.”

Mon-El nodded, “Like on Krypton and Daxam.”

“And we get our powers from the radiation of of a yellow sun,” Kara continued as though she was explaining to a child. “So that means…”

“No powers,” Mon-El finished.

“No powers,” Kara repeated, taking deep breaths.

Mon-El nodded. “We need to get out of here,” and he moved towards the gateway they had both just come through, but suddenly that interstellar gateway closed up like a television turning off.

Mon-El’s shoulders slumped, as he assessed the situation. He turned around to face Kara. “Well NOW who is going to help us?”

Kara had no answer. In fact, the sudden loss of power was making her weary and she fell on her ass as though slipping on ice.

Mon-El hurried to help her up, but she shrugged him off. “I’m fine,” she insisted once back on her feet. “I just need to get used to this again.”

That did not ease his worry, as he hurried over to the control panel beside the gate and started pressing buttons, but then the screen what asking a question in some totally unfamiliar language. After about a minute of guessing he punched the panel in frustration: “We have to get this to work. Nobody knows we are here.”

“That’s why I told you to get my sister,” Kara spat back. Alex was going to be so worried. Or maybe she would be having such a good time with Maggie, she wouldn’t even notice that Kara was missing.

“I couldn’t just let you go alone,” Mon-El insisted.

Kara hesitated when she saw the sincerity in his eyes, which looked so different from his usual carefree joker attitude. Then she felt angry. “If you’d only listened to me…”

“You know what,” Mon-El interrupted, “it doesn’t matter who is to blame. We just need to get back to Earth.”

“Well, we can’t go back now,” Kara countered, “so we should finish what we started. Some aliens brought those people to this planet, so we need to find out why and save them.”

Kara turned towards the clearing to get a better view of what they were dealing with.

Mon-El hurried up behind her. “Um, could you maybe think about saving us for a second, rather than always being a hero?”

“Nobody told you to come here!” Kara reminded him, now furious. “In fact, I specifically told you NOT to come.”

“Okay,” Mon-El stated calmly, like he was trying to relax the situation, but that only made Kara want to punch him. “Okay, and let’s say we do find them. The portal is closed.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Kara insisted adamantly, though she wished she had a better come-back than that.

Just then a whirring sound interrupted their trains of thought.

“What’s that?” Kara asked, looking around.

“Sounds like a short-range shuttle we had on Daxam,” Mon-El replied while also looking up until they both saw a mechanical beast driving across the sky. “That’s a troop transport… Where’s it going?”

“It’s probably heading there,” Kara replied, pointing to a ship so large on the horizon that Mon-El had overlooked it as part of a mountain.

“Oh,” Mon-El gasped as he took it all in. “Yeah, so we are going …” he began, pointing in the opposite direction from the hovering terror.

“After it,” Kara decided.

“No, no, no,” Mon-El insisted, “We are going away from Murder Castle, because, remember, we don’t have our powers anymore.”

“And?” Kara said, staring at him as though he was being selfish to even suggest a safer course of action.

Mon-El just stared at her for a moment, wondering if she would ever notice that he was in fact putting someone before himself. He had been for a while. But finally he just said, “Right,” and followed Kara into the lion’s den.

***

“Why do you keep checking your phone?” Maggie asked Alex, while they sat at the cafe by the police station, dipping scones in their coffee.

“I was texting Kara an idea I had about that missing persons case. That was twenty minutes ago,” Alex replied nervously. “You see, we have been monitoring power surges during the same days that these people were disappearing, and I just thought she should know. But she hasn’t even read my texts yet.”

Maggie smiled reassuringly. “Maybe she’s just checking your idea out before she gets back to you.”

Alex shook her head, “But according to my phone, she hasn’t even read my texts.”

“So?” Maggie said, still smiling sweetly. “My sister doesn’t answer my texts for days!”

“Well, Kara is not like that,” Alex snapped. “She always texts me right back, and if she goes to a movie or something, she’ll always send me a text telling me that her phone will be off.”

“Wow,” Maggie said, “that’s sounds like my last girlfriend. She would text me all of the time, always expecting an instant reply. I guess a lot of couples are like that these days, always just a few clicks away, but it kind of drove me crazy after a while.”

Alex stared at Maggie, not knowing what to say. What did Maggie think Alex’s relationship with Kara was like?

Maggie misread Alex’s silence, saying, “I don’t mean that you shouldn’t text me. I guess I can be a bitch sometimes.”

“No, no, that’s all me,” Alex said, feeling guilty for making Maggie doubt herself.

Maggie smiled again, and they shared a quick kiss.

But the intimate moment didn’t last.

“It’s just that I’ve have a bad feeling,” Alex needed to say. “Something’s not right.”

Maggie sighed. She paused. Where was that girl who was professing her love so profusely, earlier? Maggie she bit her lip and said, “Maybe you should go back to the DEO then and check it out. I’m a big believer in gut feelings.”

Alex nodded and thanked Maggie with a hug for being so understanding. They packed up and left with half-eaten scones and nearly full coffees still sitting on the table.

***

The walk towards the giant space ship hovering in the sky was much longer than it looked, especially for mere humans who couldn’t fly or run like the Flash.

Kara and Mon-El had to hike the whole way through uneven terrain. The air was filled with strange insects that attacked whenever they stopped walking, and that kept them moving more than did a sense of urgency.

Kara felt depressed, worrying about what they would do when they finally arrived, but Mon-El kept distracting her with silly jokes and observations, and she knew she shouldn’t laugh, but Mon-El had a gift.

“You know how on Earth they rate everything?” he said casually. “One star. This planet is a one star.”

“I used to love going to other planets with my parents,” Kara reminisced with a smile. “They’d take me to the pretty ones, though. Not like this. We’d spend solstices on Sedenach.”

“Oh yeah,” Mon-El piped up. “The Bismuth Mountains? Those were crazy!”

“Yeah, they’d grow right under our feet!” Kara smiled. She was amazed that they had visited the same planet. She didn’t think Daxam servants ever travelled.

“Yeah,” Mon-El agreed, slapping an insect while they walked.

Kara was so excited to share such a memory that she forgot for a moment the situation they were in. She gazed towards the sky and daydreamed. “It was beautiful, all of those crystal staircases raising us up.”

“I took a girl there once,” Mon-El shared, as if it would impress Kara. “It’s a great spot, you know…”

Now he had lost her with his typical tomcat behavior. Why did he always do this? As soon as he’d make her like him, he’d spoil it by saying something like that.

“Uh, Kara?” he said.

“What?” Kara said, turning towards him, annoyed, but she didn’t realize that he had fallen behind. He was just standing there. “Oh, come on! Now you won’t follow me?”

But Mon-El just looked sad. “Uh, I can’t. My leg… it’s stuck.”

Kara looked down to see what resembled a large handcuff clamped around Mon-El’s ankle. “What is this?” she asked, as she kneeled down to examine it. It was as secure as a bear trap, and there was no visible way to unlock it, except via a keyhole. “This was made to trap people, not animals,” Kara observed.

From above them descended the sound of a gunshot, and the two would be heroes found themselves at the wrong end of a gun. A hunter stood on a hill above them, aiming his rifle down at them, like a Tuscan Raider from Star Wars.

“Run,” Mon-El encouraged Kara. He was trapped, but there were plenty of places for Kara to hide and escape.

But Kara would not leave him. They both raised their hands to surrender, believing their only hope now was the mercy of their captor.

“This planet sucks,” Mon-El said, hoping those would not be his last words.

***

The missing persons case Kara was working was not authorized by either the DEO or CatCo, so Alex was the only person who had any idea what she was up to. But when Alex suggested there might be a problem, Winn needed only one minute to discover that Kara’s cell phone hadn’t moved for over an hour, and it was located at the same research lab he had identified yesterday.

Alex and a troup of DEO agents rushed to the scene in a matter of minutes, where they discovered Kara’s discarded clothes and a cell phone, and two medical forms bearing the names of Kara and Mike were dropped near the control panel of a large, unfamiliar structure.

“Are you seeing this?” Alex asked, as the troop’s headset cameras scanned the room, transmitting the images back to the DEO. “What the hell is this?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Winn’s voice said through her earpiece.

“I have,” Hank said, ominously.

“Oh, no, I know that tone, that’s a bad news tone,” Winn said. “I gather it’s not a state of the art MRI machine, then.”

“It’s a trans-matter portal: a way to travel instantly between worlds.”

“Oh my god, it’s Stargate!” Winn showed off his nerd knowledge.

“Wait…” Alex said, searching through Kara’s clothes, as if somehow she might find the lost girl hiding somewhere in there. “Are you saying that Kara is not on Earth? I have to go after her.”

Alex hurried to the control panel and started pressing buttons blindly.

“Wait!” Hank demanded. “You don’t know what you are doing. Come back to the DEO, and we’ll plan this out.”

“But she could be in trouble,” Alex cried back. “I should have gone with her.”

“No!” Hank insisted. “Your sister charged in blindly and put us in this position. If the other end of this portal is something she can handle, then she’ll be back, but if it is not, we can only help her with a plan. I promise this will be our top priority.”

Alex looked down at the floor, and she thought about her last moments with Kara. Alex knew that Kara had been sad, despite her horribly fake smile. Alex knew that Kara was moping alone at night, without her sister to cuddle up with, all while Alex cuddled up with someone else. Alex needed her sister back, no matter what; it took all of her strength to heed Hank’s wisdom, but he was right. Their best hope at saving Kara was with a good plan. But if Alex found out that Kara died because they waited too long, she could never forgive herself.

***

Kara and Mon-El had been prepared for the worst when that small native had his gun aimed right at them, and he kept his gun pointed their way as he descended the hill of stone and approached them.

Then, oddly, he turned his back on Kara as he kneeled and unlocked the trap around Mon-El’s foot.

Kara and Mon-El glanced at each other, surprised, thinking that the lizard man was setting them free, but then he aimed his gun at them again and pointed where he wanted for them to go.

As they started walking, the native was looking around and holding his gun casually, barely even paying attention to his larger captives, but when Mon-El paused to see what he was doing he just grunted and pointed ahead, barely even raising his gun.

Mon-El whispered to Kara, “Am I missing something, or is he herding us like cattle?”

Kara shrugged.

Mon-El suggested, “Maybe I should just grab the gun.”

Kara shook her head. “I don’t think he means us any harm. Maybe if we can find a way to communicate with him, he can help us.”

Mon-El took a deep breath and nodded, as if to say, “Yeah, that sounds like one of Kara’s plans.”

The native directed them to a tent-like dwelling and motioned them to sit inside, while he remained outside and went about some chores, trusting his captives would stay inside like a shepherd trusts sheep to not wander off.

“OK, so what’s the plan?” Mon-El asked, while they sat in front of a fire, even though it was already hot outside.

“Just wait and see what he wants,” Kara suggested.

“Aren’t we in a hurry?” Mon-El asked.

“Were are, but we don’t have any idea what we are doing,” Kara explained. “Maybe we can learn something from him.”

Mon-El nodded. Made sense.

Kara thought he was humoring her, so she said, “Being a hero isn’t all about fighting.”

Mon-El nodded.

Again, Kara thought he was humoring her. “Being a hero is about putting other people first. It’s about taking responsibility. It’s about doing whatever you can, not just when it’s convenient. I have always felt like being a hero was my purpose in life.”

“But you only discovered that purpose like a year ago,” Mon-El said. “You told me that you had tried to live a normal life for many years before that.”

Kara paused for a long moment, then she looked ashamed. “No, I always felt like I had this purpose, ever since my whole world died.  I had to do something, to justify living on. I knew what I had to do, but I was … I don’t know...”

“But you were afraid to take on all of that responsibility?” Mon-El suggested.

“Uh, not exactly. I felt ashamed, like I wasn’t worthy of the honor, like it was it was too big for me to handle,” Kara clarified, then she looked at Mon-El, her heart suddenly more open toward him than any point since they had kissed. “I know I’ve been hard on you. Maybe it’s because I don’t want you to make the same mistake I made. You’ve come a long way a lot faster than I’ve done. I know you are braver than you pretend to be. You were very brave when you thought you were dying, and you were, uh... were trying to make ME feel better.”

Mon-El took Kara’s hand and gazed into her eyes, just as he had done that night. Kara wondered if he remembered kissing her. Did he remember calling her beautiful? Did he really not remember that? It hurt Kara to think he could forget it. But the way he was looking at her now, and the way she was feeling, the moment seemed ready to repeat itself.

Except that the door suddenly opened…

Their captor stepped back inside the tent, this time holding a pot full of some kind of stew with large chunks of meat. He sat down opposite his captives and put the pot over the fire and stirred the contents.

Kara and Mon-El glanced at each other, wondering if he intended to share the food with them.

Mon-El leaned forward to get a look at the stew and saw large insect parts inside.

“It’s Thanagarian snare beast soup,” Mon-El said knowingly, then joked, “and we’re the next course.”

The native then looked up and seemed offended. He said, “Jo Gunraf does not eat bipeds.”

Kara and Mon-El looked at him in shock.

“So … you speak English?” Mon-El asked the obvious.

“Oh, yes,” he replied, “Jo dissected a human once.”

“Of course he did,” Mon-El whispered.

“Learned your tongue,” Jo continued, then convulsed in disgust. “Hideous pink thing.”

Mon-El coughed up a laugh, wondering if Jo was trying to make a joke.

“Ah Jo?” Kara asked. “Jo is it?”

He nodded.

Kara stood up to address him, which seemed to frighten him, because he quickly looked for his gun. Kara stepped back, “We promise, we’re not here to hurt you.”

Jo relaxed.

“We were just wondering if you could help us,” Kara said as she reached into a small pocket hidden under her cape. Then she unfolded a sheet of paper and handed it to him. “We are trying to find this girl.”

Jo took a long look at the photo. “They brought through the portal. They took her to the Red Fortress, where they sell carbon forms like you. Sell them like animals.”

Relief, then horror, swept over Kara’s face. “They’ve been kidnapping those people then selling them as slaves,” Kara said, finally understanding the mystery.

“Slaving is a big business on Maaldoria,” Jo added.

Mon-El’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Wait… This is Maaldoria?”

“You know where we are?” Kara asked.

“The locals call is Slaver’s Moon,” Mon-El said confidently. “The royal family on Daxom used to buy their slaves here.”

“Oh, I forgot they had slaves on Daxam,” Kara said contemptuously.

“There were a lot of things there I didn’t agree with,” Mon-El was quick to add. Then he remembered how ruthless the traders were. “We have to leave.”

“No,” Kara corrected. “We have to find the people we came here for.”

She immediately walked towards the door, ready to face the slavers on her own.

“No finding girl,” Jo called out, trying to stop her. “Fortress bad. Many weapons. No way out. No way in.”

Kara stopped and considered what would have happened if Kara and Mon-El hadn’t had their powers when the Maaldorian doctor tried to capture them.

“Well, there is one way in,” Kara said. “Would they take us if you presented us as your prisoners?”

Jo looked at her like she had lost her mind.

***

“Have you found the Transmat Terminus?” Hank asked Winn.

“Yeah, the ionization trail leads to the Arcturus system and stops there at ....” Winn examined the star maps. “Planet 51, arc B.”

“That’s Maaldoria,” Hank said, as a map of the star system appeared on the screen for all to see. “That’s in the heart of the intergalactic slave trade.”

“So now they are getting their slaves from Earth?” Alex asked. “This is bad.”

“It gets worse,” Hank said.

“Define worse,” Alex said.

“Arcurus is a giant red star,” Hank replied, and let the significance set in.

“Kara won’t have any of her powers,” Alex said, suddenly alarmed. She shuddered when she thought of Kara as a slave. She couldn’t allow herself to think of that. “I should have gone with her. Why didn’t I go with her?”

“You couldn’t have known this would happen,” Hank said softly, realizing how hard this was for Alex.

“Hey,” Winn said, trying to maintain some optimism. “There’s nothing to worry about. We have the Martian Manhunter here. He doesn’t need a yellow sun. He’ll go there, he’ll get her and everything will be OK.”

“I can’t join this rescue mission,” Hank shot Winn’s idea down.

“Exactly… Wait… What?” Winn said, surprised.

“The air on Maaldoria is toxic to Martians, even to our skin,” Hank explained. “The atmosphere is filled with some kind of silicate. I can’t help her, I’m sorry.”

Alex could barely breath. Images of Kara suffering and dying invaded her mind. She stumbled backwards and turned around just in time to see Maggie walk through the door.

Alex’s mind quickly shifted, as she hurried to intercept her. “What are you doing here?”

“You weren’t returning my texts or calls,” Maggie complained. “That's more upsetting than I thought. I was worried.”

“I was busy,” Alex said simply, after many explanations came to mind, all of them classified. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t be here.”

“Is this a bad time?” Maggie asked sadly.

“Yeah, it is, kind of.” Again Alex struggled to explain. “Supergirl is missing.”

Maggie tried giving Alex a smile and a pep talk. “If anyone can find her, it’s you.”

Alex dug her fingers into her hair. All of those good times with Maggie suddenly seemed like a childish fantasy, now that Kara was in danger. The memories of their kisses tasted bitter, knowing that if she had only been with Kara during her lonely nights, everything would be OK, now.

Alex’s eyes were hard when she stared at Maggie and said, “I knew this would happen. I knew it.”

“What are you talking about?” Maggie asked, looking like she had been slapped.

“I was happy for like five minutes,” Alex complained.

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” Alex said, looking around frantically, suddenly unsure about everything, then she stared decisively at Maggie. “This was a mistake. I’m sorry, you have to go. I’m sorry, I can’t...”

Maggie looked at Alex with eyes full of hurt and surprise, but finally she said, “Okay.” She nodded and hardened her face. “Got it. See you Danvers.”

And then she walked out the door and out of Alex’s life.

Alex took a deep breath and her eyes teared up when she realized what she had just done.

But it had to be done. Better now than later. Alex belonged with Kara. She had always belonged with Kara. As much as they pretended that they needed to look elsewhere to be happy, Alex had never been happier than when she sat against Kara on the couch, under a blanket, sharing an evening of food and TV.

And now she was afraid that might never happen again.

 

 


	3. Acting On Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue is underway. Mon-El finally understands what it means to be a hero. Kara finally starts to consider what it means to be in love.

Jo led Kara and Mon-El across the wide-open expanse towards a fortress under the giant floating ship in the sky. Weather on Maaldoria was typically dry and wind-free, so thousands of footsteps remained undisturbed in the sand, going mostly in one direction, testifying to the horrors that went on here every day, as slaves were led into captivity.

Kara and Mon-El marched ahead with collars around their necks. Jo strolled behind them, holding the leash, like he was taking pet dogs for a walk.

Jo poked Kara in the back with a stick when she slowed down to look around.

“Ouch!” Kara complained.

“Hey!” Mon-El stared hard at Jo with challenging eyes.

Jo said, “Eyes everywhere. Must look like moving slaves.” He then poked Mon-El in the ribs for good measure, saying, “Look ahead or I do again.”

Mon-El sighed. “You seem very experienced at this.”

“You aren’t a cruel person,” Kara said. “I can’t believe you are part of this kind of business.”

Jo said, “Only bring bipeds to bad people when bipeds ask me to, like you two have.”

“We aren’t the only ones?” Kara asked, shocked. “Do people actually want to be slaves?”

Jo seemed surprised by the question, and he struggled to explain: “Slaves have better lives than other bipeds here, and slavers believed they were helping these poor people. But soon there were no more volunteers, and then no more slaves. Then aliens from far away took over, and they are very bad. They get many slaves from other worlds, now. Those poor people come out of portals and they are dragged to the castle.”

Kara shook her head sadly. “Maybe if I could talk to them…”

“There is no talking to slavers,” Jo interrupted. “If you try, they will beat you and separate you.”

Kara looked horrified. “But if I’m nice…”

“They will beat you and separate you. Slavers do not care about talking or being nice. They want silence and obedience. Anything else gets you punishment. Do not talk to them. Do not talk to each other, if you want the slavers to take you to the other slaves.”

“Have I said this planet sucks?” Mon-El muttered, looking bored, but when he looked at Kara, he saw tears escaping her eyes. He touched her arm with unexpected sympathy. “Hey...we can still go back.”

Kara shook her head and pulled away from his touch. She wished he would go back to his irritating jokes, because a serious Mon-El was more than she could handle right now. She wiped the tears away against her sleeves and became the hero again. “No, we have to go on. We have to save Izzy.”

“But you’ve never even met her,” Mon-El argued, confused by her determination. “If we could just find our way back to Earth and get our powers back, we could save so many other Izzys without risking our lives. What’s so important about this one? It’s like you don’t even try to enjoy your life anymore.”

“It’s because she is my life, now,” Kara declared, confusing Mon-El even more. “I promised her mother. I… I can’t think of anything else until she is safe. I won’t.”

“Okay,” Mon-El said, nodding, and he was prepared to just play nice and let her have her mysterious reasons. Then he remembered that as soon as they reached the fortress in a few hundred yards, they would not be able to talk at all. Maybe they would never be able to say what they thought or felt ever again, if this crazy plan did not work out. So he changed his mind and decided to talk quickly. “No… It’s not okay. Why can’t you think of anything else?”

“Because Alex is with Maggie now, so this is all I’ve got,” she blurted out without thinking.

Mon-El was speechless for a moment. “I thought you liked Maggie. You told me that you wanted for them to be happy together.”

“I do. It’s just...” Kara stammered. “It’s just that Alex used to come over to my apartment every day, and we’d hang out under the blanket and watch TV. She would text me all the time. We did everything together. I miss my … sister.”

“But didn’t you just see her yesterday?” Mon-El marvelled at Kara’s confessions. “I’ve never had a sister, but back on Daxim, sisters usually weren’t that close all the time.”

Kara shook her head, feeling offended, but she didn’t want it to show. “Well, we aren’t on Daxom or even Krypton.”

“Or on Earth, for that matter,” Mon-El added, jokingly.

Kara stayed serious. “I know Alex and I are from different planets, but Alex will always be my sister.”

Mon-El touched Kara’s forehead and said fondly, “You know, you’ve got that crinkly thing right here again.”

“Stop!” Kara shouted while pushing his hand away. “What does Alex have to do with this, anyway? You … you are distracting me. We need to focus on saving Izzy. That’s what heroes do. We … can’t stop to think about ourselves.”

Mon-El stared at Kara, confused. She had mentioned Alex first, not him. Now she was angry, but he couldn’t tell if she was angry at him or at herself. He didn’t understand what was going on, but he knew he didn’t like seeing her this way.

“I’m sorry!” he said sincerely. “Of course, we’ll look for Izzy.”

***

Jo led them right up to the heavily secured gate in front of the fortress. Two guards were stationed on either side. When Jo and his captives approached, the gate opened and six more guards marched out. Jo spoke to them in a language neither Kara nor Mon-El understood. One of the guards handed a shiny cube to Jo. Jo handed the guard the leash in return, then Jo turned around and walked away without saying a word.

Now the guards turned their attention to the two slaves they had just purchased.

“We surrender,” Kara said humbly.

Mon-El stared at Kara skeptically. Why did he agree to this? He didn’t like Kara’s plan. They were just giving up so they could get close to Izzy and the other captives, by becoming captives themselves. Then they would save them. Somehow. Was that really a plan at all?

Mon-El didn’t say a word, so they left him alone, but they slapped Kara hard, knocking her to the ground, just for declaring her surrender.

Mon-El looked daggers at the native who had dared to strike her down, but Kara shook her head. Mon-El reached out to help her up, but she waved him off. He marveled at her courage, even without her powers.

Kara learned her lesson. She rose to her feet and stood beside Mon-El, gazing downward, ready to be led as if to slaughter.

Jo had been right: the key to being captured successfully was not by being nice or helpful. Kara and Mon-El needed to appear broken, so they could easily be herded like cattle.

The guards led the captives into the fortress, down a hall, then they stopped in a waiting area. There they waited for hours, but Kara and Mon-El kept quiet the entire time. They stood at attention, eyes down, looking thoroughly defeated.

Eventually, another native, dressed in fancier clothes, entered the room. She was clearly someone in authority.

Mon-El thought they would now join with the other slaves, but the guards were not through with testing them. The higher-ranking native nodded to a subordinate, who then walked up to Mon-El and punched him hard in the gut, for no apparent reason. Taken by surprise, Mon-El collapsed to the ground, crippled by the pain.

The guard followed up by hitting Kara in the gut. She was ready for the impact, after seeing what he had done to Mon-El, yet she still crumpled to the ground.

While the captives were still on all fours, recovering from the pain, the leader stepped forward and demanded in broken but unmistakable English. “Kneel before me!”

The captives did not hesitate to get on their knees. Mon-El bowed his head, but Kara stole a sorrowful glance at Mon-El, silently apologizing for getting him into this situation.

***

All but two guards left the room, but Kara and Mon-El were forced to kneel on the grated, metal floor for a long time after that.

Mon-El felt like the skin on his knees was being cut, though he saw no sign of blood. Kara shifted her kneeling position several times, trying to ease the discomfort. She was not bleeding, either, but the tops of her boots were shredding, and if they had to kneel much longer, the skin on her knees would not fare better.

Fortunately, before that could happen, the guards returned, this time with the Maaldorian that had dressed up like a doctor in National City, and who had led countless medical volunteers to this desperate situation.

“Well, well, well,” he said, as though still conducting his scam. “It looks like you decided to join us after all. What happened to your vacation to Paris City?”

His jokes were met with silence.

“Let’s not be like this. Pardon my rough friends here. Things don’t have to be so bad,” he comforted. “You followed me here and now you’ve found me. We aren’t going to hurt you. We will give you a new life. A new purpose. I know it’s a disappointment, but it will all be okay if you always look on the bright side of life.”

“Oh, I know that,” Mon-El said, excitedly. “Monty Python, right?”

“Bravo,” replied the creepy doctor with a big smile. Now that their captives understood their lives would from then on be total shit, he decided it was time to polish that turd with compliments.

Kara rolled her eyes and said to Mon-El, “Really? Another of Winn’s movies?”

“Netflix recommended it,” Mon-El replied with good humor, despite still crouching from the pain in his belly.

“You see, it’s not all gloom and doom,” said the doctor while indicating for his captives to follow him, “but for now it’s time to get familiar with the darker side of life. Just for a little while.”

They were led deeper into the fortress, with the guards poking them all the way -- reminding them that, the doctor’s and Mon-El’s joking aside, this was deadly serious.

Finally, they were pushed into a large chamber with about a dozen other captives, whose faces were obscured by darkness. A plasma shield was instantly raised behind them, like bars to a prison.

Mon-El looked back, beyond the shield, at the four soldiers standing at their posts beside the high-tech jail cell. “At least we’ve got ‘em right where we want ‘em,” Mon-El said.

***

Kara had begun to wonder if being captured was a huge mistake. She had put both Mon-El’s and her own life on the line for the sake of one person, a single mission and a promise to a desperate mother. Her hope had been dwindling, until now.

“Izzy?” Kara asked, squinting at the teenaged face hiding in the back. “Are you Izzy Williams?”

The girl stepped into the light. “You … you know who I am?”

“Your mother was looking for you,” Kara replied.

“You know my mother, Supergirl?” Izzy excitedly.

“Uh…”, Kara started, then looked down at her clothes and saw the red and blue. She felt more like Kara right now than any kind of Supergirl, but the hero was what these people were seeing. A hero was what they needed. “A friend of mine is a reporter and, uh… your mother persuaded her to find out what happened to you, and she told me, and that’s why I’m here.”

Kara winced at her own voice and the rapid blast of lies escaping her lips. She always felt so guilty for the endless masquerade, and she assumed that everyone could see through the lie, but most people didn’t know about “the crinkle” or her various tells. They never imagined that Supergirl might lie to them.

Izzy was no different. She just saw the costume, and she cried out in relief. Everyone approached, as she gushed, “You can save us! You can just knock down the walls!”

“You’re going to get us all home!” added a boy who appeared to be her friend.

“I can’t,” Kara said sadly. “I don’t have my powers on this planet.”

Izzy’s eyes dimmed. She looked at the boy, and both appeared crestfallen. The disappointment in the room was palpable.

“But I will help you. All of you. I promise,” Supergirl said. Somehow, she had to be Supergirl now, powers or not.

Still, she shifted her weight from her left foot to her right, because a blister had formed on her un-calloused foot. Her wrist felt sprained from the punch she had thrown earlier. Her stomach ached horribly from all of the stress.

How could she possibly help them? How could she help herself?

“It’s okay,” Mon-El whispered, as he put a hand on her shoulder. “At least you tried.”

Kara stared at him. He must have seen the anger in her eyes because he quickly pulled his hand away. He didn’t understand her anger.

She didn’t understand her anger, either, because part of her wanted to lean into him.

She knew that Mon-El was trying to comfort her, and he wasn’t even blaming her for getting him into this situation. He was being kind. He was being brave. He was trying to give her strength. He was doing everything that Alex would have done, if only she were here.

And that’s why Kara was angry. Because Alex should have been there. Not Mon-El. And she wasn’t angry at Mon-El; she was angry at herself because Alex WOULD have been there if Kara hadn’t pushed her back into Maggie’s arms.

“Sorry,” Kara said to Mon-El. “It’s not you. I just … screwed this up so badly.”

Now was the time when Mon-El would usually say something funny or stupid or insensitive, like “I told you so.” Instead, he just looked at her gently, even with admiration. His eyes looked the same as when he had kissed her that night when he was sick.

Kara leaned into him, and he put a hand around her for just a moment.

Then they were surprised by a familiar voice shouting from behind them. “Supergirl, in my cage again!”

Kara and Mon-El spun around to see the arrogant Earth woman who stood beside the Maaldorian guards outside the holding cell.

“Roulette?” Kara asked, confused.

“Well, if this isn’t deja vu… We have got to stop meeting like this,” Roulette teased wickedly.

“Why are you here?” Kara demanded, raising her voice and shoulders to express the authority of a superhero.

“Yeah,” Mon-El seconded her demand before he even saw Roulette’s face clearly. “Wait… Who is this?”

Supergirl gave him a quick glance, not sure if he was being serious or joking.

“I’m here because of you, of course,” Roulette fired back at Supergirl. “You dismantled my club and put me on all kinds of watch lists, even though I had done nothing illegal.”

“Nothing illegal?” Supergirl gasped. “You were manipulating people into killing each other!”

“Aliens”, Roulette corrected, “not people. Even dogs and cats have more rights on Earth than aliens. Except for you, of course, because you look just like us regular Earth humans. But what about those with green skin or four arms? They could never fit in on Earth, so I gave them a purpose. I gave them a place. But you ruined everything. Because of you, I couldn’t do business on Earth anymore. Because of you, dozens of aliens became homeless or victims of hate crimes. I’ll bet you’re very proud of yourself, but you didn’t help anyone. One of those aliens you claimed to have ‘freed’ didn’t have the same high regard for freedom that you have. He had been a slave once and wished to be again, so he told me about Slaver’s Moon. I jumped at the opportunity to expand its market. I convinced the Maaldorians that Earth was an untapped resource pool for their trade, and now I’m doing better than I could ever hope to do at those little league fight clubs.”

“You are acting like you are selling coffee!” Supergirl scorned. “You are selling people!”

“At least they know they are wanted,” Roulette countered with a wicked smile. “I’m taking human trafficking to the next level. It’s about time that Earth people learned their place in the universe. I only take prime specimens that can survive a lifetime of labor. They are good stock and will sell for top dollar.”

“Blood money,” Supergirl gasped, recoiling in horror.

“Blood diamonds, actually,” Roulette said with pride while showing off her bracelets, which were covered in the tainted gems. “This planet is lousy with them. They’re like dirt to these Maaldorians, so they move diamonds one way and slaves the other and everyone makes out.”

“Except the slaves…” Supergirl reminded.

“Everyone that matters,” Roulette replied, shrugging, when a door opened behind her.

The doctor and a Dominator approached Roulette from just outside of the cell, so she stepped away from her prisoners.

Supergirl felt uneasy as she stared at the Dominator, and a wave of deja vu made her dizzy. She had just fought against these guys with the Flash in a different universe back on Earth. Now, she was on a different planet in her own universe, and here the Dominators were again. In this universe, they somehow appeared to oversee the slave trade. “Oh man,” she grieved, “I hate these guys.”

A moment later, Roulette turned back towards the prisoners. “Good news, everybody,” she said. “You’ve all been sold.”

Mon-El whispered in Kara’s ear, “Is this how it usually goes when you try to save people?”

***

Back on Earth, a troop of the DEO’s finest were preparing to pay the Maaldorians a surprise visit.

Alex was adjusting her body armor. With kevlar and modern weapons, she would be much better protected than her sister was currently under the red sun of Maaldoria. The gravity on Slaver’s Moon was a bit stronger than on Earth, but her gear was light. The DEO team of experts provided her with the best equipment and intel, so Alex felt as ready for this mission as she would ever be.

When Alex tightened the last buckle on her gear, she looked up, and she saw that most of her fellow agents haven’t even started putting on their armor yet. She sighed impatiently. She felt ready to go, though she could never really be ready. She was going to another planet, after all! How could she really know what dangers awaited her on the other side of this interstellar gateway? Still, she was ready to dive in, and she was so even hours ago because Kara was there, and Kara was all that mattered.

Alex hadn't hesitated to push away a budding relationship when she realized what was at stake. Maggie had been wonderful. Alex had been so grateful when Maggie had opened a door in her life that Alex had kept locked out of fear, but for the past few days, Alex wondered if maybe she had truly wanted someone else to open that door. Someone who was now in terrible danger.

Hank walked up from behind Alex and handed her the solar grenade they had just constructed. The special bomb came from an old design originally meant to boost Superman’s power with an extra burst of radiation. Unfortunately, the synthetic sunlight hadn’t added a significant boost when he was already on Earth under it’s yellow sun. Still, what failed for Superman years ago might just be what Supergirl needed today under a red sun.

“We only had time to fabricate the one,” Hank said. “Any effect won’t last long, so make it count.”

“I will,” Alex replied with an intense focus in her eyes.

“Bring our girl home,” Hank said while touching her shoulder.

Alex nodded and touched his shoulder back, as close to sharing a hug as possible for DEO officers. Alex knew how much she and her sister meant to Hank, but she was thankful that he showed confidence rather than concern. Alex needed confidence. She needed to have focus. If Alex let herself worry about what was happening to Kara, or what might happen if they failed, Alex would get so upset that she might screw up the operation. She needed to turn herself into steel if she had any hope of reuniting with her other half in that other world.

The two veterans turned their attention to the rookie of the group.

Alex called out to Winn, as they approached the tech guru while he tinkered with the portal’s control panel.

Winn grabbed a tablet that was running a very complicated looking app, and he held it out to her. “Okay, these portals will shut down shortly after they are opened, but this should open the transmat on the other side when you are ready to come back.”

“Well, keep it,” Alex said breathlessly, as she fumbled with her armor. “I’ve got too much to deal with right now than to learn a new video game. You are coming with me.”

Winn looked stunned at the suggestion. “No, um, yeah this is pre-programmed. Just forget about all this other stuff on the screen; you just need to hit this button and you open the portals, right? You don’t need me.”

“Ahh… no, you’re coming with me,” Alex insisted, knowing that no technology was foolproof in her hands. “I want YOUR hands at the controls.”

“No, no,” Winn recoiled.

“Agent Schott, she wasn’t asking you,” Hank stated firmly. “That’s an order.”

Generally, the sound of Hank’s authority was enough to snap an agent back to his sense of duty, but Winn stumbled away, clearly unnerved by something.

Alex followed him, not allowing him to wallow in fear. “Winn?”

“I’m not going to be of any help to you out there,” he insisted. “I tried to be a good soldier out in the field, OK? I screwed up. I almost got myself killed for nothing, so yeah I’m scared.”

“Do you think I’m never afraid? I know what it’s like to be paralyzed by fear, but believe me giving into that fear will only fill you with regret. Doing nothing will not make you feel better. I’m not asking for myself. Kara needs you,” Alex said. She knew how much Kara meant to Winn. Nothing defeats fear better than love. “She’s out there, powerless, just like us, except she’s trapped. That’s why I’m going to bring her back, and I need you.”

Winn got his breathing under control, as he took inventory of his emotions. At last, he nodded.

***

As soon as Mon-El saw the Dominator, he saw an opportunity. He might be able to get through this unharmed. He just needed to spill the beans. But the truth scared him, almost more than dying.

Unbeknownst to Kara, Mon-El wasn’t just a servant on Daxam; he was a member of the Royal family, and the Dominators had been allied with the Daxamites for many generations. Perhaps times had changed. Mon-El was missing quite a bit of recent history, but he was confident he could secure his own freedom by appealing to the Dominator. Maybe he could even secure Kara’s freedom as well, as a favor.

But Kara had a much bigger goal in mind. She was determined to save everyone.

While their captors were organizing outside of the holding cell, Supergirl addressed all the newly sold slaves, speaking calmly, “Okay, listen, I know that you are all scared. But we’re going to find a way out of here. Don’t worry.”

“Psst,” Mon-El whispered.

Kara turned around. Perhaps her suddenly non-super ears were playing games with her. “Did you just ‘psst’?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Mon-El whispered. “People do that when they want someone’s attention, right?”

“Sometimes.”

“Come here,” he motioned her away from the others. “So, we’re stuck on the most dangerous planet on this side of the galaxy, and we don’t have our powers. We are dealing with slave traders, who are notoriously immune to heartfelt appeals to their better natures. So, you are optimistic … how?”

“Because they need us to be,” Kara insisted patiently.

Mon-El frowned. He looked directly at Kara, and away from the other captives. “See, this is what I’ve been telling you,” Mon-El said anxiously. “Kara, you know, if you go looking for trouble, you will always find it. And you do. You’re like the winner at it.”

Kara’s eyes tightened like when she had first found out that Mon-El was from Daxam.

Mon-El stepped back.

She said sharply, “That’s what heroes do! They fight when they see daughters stolen from their mothers. They don’t sit and hide in a bar because it’s easier than getting involved.”

“I am not hiding,” Mon-El countered in frustration. “I’m being smart. It’s a dangerous universe. And why do you have to be the one who saves everyone every time.”

“Because our worlds may have been destroyed, but we were spared for a reason,” Kara explained, looking beautifully naive.

“Maybe we were just lucky,” Mon-El said.

“I refuse to believe that,” Kara said quickly, angry that Mon-El didn’t feel the same way. “I believe you keep fighting, whether you are stuck on another world or whether you have powers or not, you never give in. That’s the difference between you and me.”

Mon-El just stared at her, feeling sad. He didn’t know what to say. He knew that everything he had just said was a lie. At least it felt like a lie. He never believed that Kara coming into his life was an accident. He wasn’t acting smart. If he was smart, he never would have followed Kara because she inevitably found trouble, like a puppy running onto a minefield. Yet he wouldn’t let her go on that minefield alone.

Kara just didn’t understand him. Mon-El wasn’t as shallow and irresponsible as he acted. Why couldn’t she see that? He wasn’t that different from Kara. Not anymore. It was just that Kara wanted to protect everyone, but Mon-El was more practical; he only wanted to protect her. While Kara wanted to make the world happy, he only wanted to make her happy. But Kara didn’t want to be protected, and Kara sabotaged every opportunity for happiness in her life. That frustrated Mon-El to no end.

***

Kara understood Mon-El just fine, she thought. She knew that Mon-El liked her, but a boy acting chivalrous for a girl hardly made him a hero. That just meant he wanted to impress her, just like he wanted to impress Winn with his fun-loving ways. He wanted to look like the fun, cool guy, but he could never be the good guy, because as soon as obstacles were put in his way, he always gave up.

So, Kara shook her head, as frustrated with him as he was with her.

“It’s time to go, Earthlings,” the Maaldorian doctor announced cheerfully while he lowered the plasma barrier to their prison cell.

Kara and Mon-El and the rest of the prisoners looked up anxiously, as the doctor and two heavily armed native soldiers stepped forward to escort the human merchandise to their new owner.

But the costumed Kryptonian stood in their way.

“Move,” demanded the doctor. “We are only interested in the Earth people for now. Kryptonians and Daxamites are too rare for most of our bidders to afford.”

But Kara shook her head and held her ground. She made herself bigger by spreading her arms, saying, “No, I will not let you take them.”

The doctor rolled his eyes and waved his soldiers forward with a flick of his wrist.

Before Kara could reconsider her strategy, one soldier thrust a heavy weapon shaped like a log into her gut, and arcs of electricity engulfed her body. She lost control of her arms and legs as she collapsed to her knees. The pain was much worse than she was prepared for. She wanted to appear strong for those people who were relying on her, but she heard herself screaming out in agony.

She looked up in terror as the sparking bludgeon moved forward for a second attack, when she heard Mon-El yell out “Hey!” Her attacker aimed his weapon at Mon-El instead, hitting him like a club, and in the corner of her eye, she saw him fall beside her.

She thanked him silently for sparing her even a few seconds more of that agony, and that time gave her a moment to reflect on her situation: her heart was racing, and she felt out of breath and scared, but the pain was gone almost as soon as the weapon pulled away. Apparently, the weapons were designed to inflict maximum pain with minimum damage. That made sense. The slavers didn’t want to damage their merchandise.

Now that both Kara and Mon-El were crouched on the floor, the doctor demanded a second time: “Move!”

Kara looked up at him, and she saw that he was smiling. Was he that sadistic? she wondered. Or maybe he relished the opportunity to show off the power of his weapons. When the others had heard her scream out in pain, and when they had seen the fear on her face, they would have been discouraged from rebelling themselves.

Well, she was not about to allow him this little victory. She stood up on quivering legs and raised her hands, blocking the soldiers again. She stared him right in the eyes and forced herself to choke out: “No!”

Almost before she got the words out, the soldiers leaped forward, brandishing their weapons. Kara held out her hands defensively, but they did not slow the attack. She fell again to her knees. She did not fight the screams that exploded from her lungs. She tried to push the weapons away, but the contact with her hands hurt more than when it hit her belly, which was at least protected by her thick costume. She crawled backward to get away, and the soldiers held back, letting her escape for a moment.

Then the kindly looking doctor spat out, “Again!”

Before Kara had time to catch her breath, they were on her again, one attacking her belly, and the other attacking her legs, which were nearly naked apart from her thin stockings.

She was caught off guard. She fell onto her back, as the soldiers pressed pressed on even while she squirmed on the ground. One soldier brushed his weapon up her body, over her chest, towards her face. Kara stared at the electric arcs in horror. She tried to roll over, to save her face, but the soldier slammed his foot on her shoulder, keeping her still. She reached out with her other hand, keeping the weapon off her face, but her hand and arm flailed involuntarily as her muscles were now controlled by the pulses of lightning. The soldier who was attacking her legs moved his weapon up her thighs until it was pushing up her skirt. Was he planning on raping her with it? Kara tried to cross her legs, but none of her muscles were obeying her will.

She didn’t feel like she had any will anymore. Her eyes were flooded with tears. Maybe Mon-El was right. Maybe she had been too stubborn. Maybe the evil in the universe was too strong. Maybe she was a fool for trying to change things.

The soldiers were getting impatient with Kara’s resistance. One pushed right past her hands and sent blasts of energy against her neck and cheek. The other pressed right up between her legs, with nothing between her privates and the weapon except the thin cloth of her panties.

Why wasn’t anyone helping her?

She was out of screams now. All she could weakly muster was a barely audible: “Help…”

***

Mon-El had nearly lost consciousness when the club had slammed against his head, but only a few seconds later he was standing on his feet again. He stared in disbelief and horror while the girl he was falling in love with was writhing on the floor. She barely had the strength to scream anymore. She looked pitiful, disgraced and weak, but Mon-El hesitated a moment and admired what she was doing. At her most helpless, she seemed even more like a super-girl.

Then Mon-El saw Supergirl’s lips move. She spat out the word “help.” It was barely a whisper, but to Mon-El it felt louder than her screams had been.

And then he did hear someone else scream.

“Let’s go!” Izzy yelled out, leading the Earthlings into a counter attack for the sake of a girl she barely knew.

As soon as he heard the battle cry, Mon-El leaped forward as well, as if he was just waiting for permission to risk his life.

The soldiers both looked up in surprise, while their weapons were still tormenting the girl who had just taught all their captives what it meant to be a hero.

Now, a dozen ordinary heroes swarmed around the soldiers. They didn’t have time to lift their weapons before a boot collided with one of their heads, and Mon-El’s fist collided with another.

The Maaldorians’ didn’t need helmets, as their heads were very hard with sharp ridges, but that didn’t stop Mon-El from pounding again and again with as much mercy as the soldier had shown to Supergirl. The soldier tried to lift his bludgeon to defend himself, but Supergirl, in one last painful act of defiance, trapped the weapon between her legs.

The other soldier barely had time to graze Izzy with his weapon when two other captives jumped on top of him, quickly disarming him and wrestling him to the ground.

That left six other would-be slaves to engage Roulette and the doctor before they could flee or call for reinforcements. Neither put up any fight.

Mon-El looked up as he held a soldier in a headlock and marveled at how the tables had turned.

How was it that they won so quickly? Why had they been so resigned to their fates that they had let two barely skilled soldiers with non-lethal weapons push everyone around?

Everyone except Kara.

No, not she was not just Kara. She was Supergirl. Even without her powers, Mon-El decided she was Supergirl. He wasn’t quite sure he would ever look at her the same way again.

Izzy helped Supergirl to her feet. Supergirl could barely maintain her balance, and she didn’t quite look like she knew where she was, but she stiffened her lip and whispered, “Thanks.”

Izzy looked surprised that Supergirl would thank her. “You didn’t give up, so neither will we.”

“Thank you,” Supergirl said again, this time with more strength. She looked at herself, maybe expecting to see bruises or tears in her costume, but she half laughed when she saw that she was completely intact. Then she stared angrily at the two cowards that had ordered her torture. “Let’s get them in this cell!”

Mon-El picked up one of the bludgeons that were laying on the ground and gave the other to Izzy. They stood on opposite sides of the cell, just as the guards had been doing earlier. All the captives stepped out into the hallway, while Supergirl guided Roulette and the doctor into the cell.

Mon-El pointed at the ground where Supergirl had been writhing. “You can stand right there,” he said. He considered forcing them to their knees, which seemed like a minimum of justice to him, but he was sure that Supergirl would not approve.

With the captors’ and captives’ roles now reversed, they raised the plasma cell barrier.

“Well, now what?” Izzy asked.

“Now we get the hell out of here!” Supergirl replied.

“Let’s go!” Mon-El said to the rest of the captives, urging them forward before they could consider what next awaited them. Mon-El remembered seeing dozens of soldiers throughout the fortress. He hoped he could remember his way through the maze of the corridors they had traversed between the prison and the exit, and then guide them out to safety.

***

The troop of DEO agents marched two-by-two through the portal onto the Slaver’s Moon, ready for anything.

Alex wanted to lead the group, but she held up the rear to make sure that Winn didn’t get cold feet.

The first step onto the new world was disorientating, but Alex was surprised at how familiar Maaldoria looked; apart from two extra moons in the sky and a somewhat stronger gravity, Alex might have thought she had stepped into the Arizona desert at night.

Once through the portal, Alex’s earpiece came to life. It was tuned to Kara’s earpiece, and that meant Kara was somewhere around here. That immediately made Maaldoria feel more like home than Earth had for the past day, or even for weeks, when Kara’s presence in her life had felt very confusing, but not now. She was not confused about what Kara meant to her; she wanted nothing else than to be with her now.

“Hello, Kara?” she said, trying connect with the earpiece.

Static was the only reply. Even in analog mode, it could not establish a connection, but that was not a surprise. Hank had predicted it, since Maaldoria is constantly bombarded with microwave radiation. But the fact that Alex got any signal at all meant that she could track it right to where Kara was. That was exactly what Alex had been hoping for. She had no doubt that she would see Kara again.

Winn did not share Alex’s confidence or sense of familiarity. His eyes glazed over with awe. “Outer-space,” he said. “I’m in outer-space.”

“It’s not outer-space,” Alex corrected. “It’s just a desert on another planet.”

“It looks like a desert,” Winn argued, “but who knows what awaits us behind those rocks and hills?”

As he said that, the portal closed behind him.

Winn seemed panicky as their escape disappeared, but Alex didn’t have time to help him find his inner bravery. “Well, you don’t have to worry about what’s behind those hills, because you are staying right here. If you don’t want to stay in outer-space forever, you’ll figure out how to dial this thing back to Earth. Make sure this thing is open by the time we get back.”

“Wait! Wait! Come back!” Winn complained when Alex started walking away to join the troop.”

“You’ll be fine.” Alex flashed him an encouraging smile, then she broke out into a run and didn’t look back. She had more confidence in Winn than he had in himself. All she wanted to think about now was saving Kara.

Unfortunately, all comms were down due to the radiation, so Alex whistled to her troop to follow her. She pulled a portable scanner from her gear, which was already tuned to Kara’s frequency, and it pointed towards Kara like a compass.

***

As it turned out, nobody remembered the layout of the fortress, so Kara, Mon-El and the Earthlings ran aimlessly down the halls only to reach a dead-end twice.

Kara had begun the escape with a burst of energy, but between losing her powers and having the life almost shocked out of her, that energy quickly expired. She fell twice, and both times Izzy helped her back to her feet.

“Just go on without me,” Kara said once, as her loss of energy was followed by a loss of hope.

“No way,” Izzy said emphatically, as she lifted the limp girl of steel to her feet.

Another escapee grabbed Kara from the other side. It was the boy Izzy had seemed close to in the cell. Kara put an arm over each of their shoulders, and they helped her continue their run down the halls.

Kara looked back and saw Mon-El guarding the rear. He was holding a laser rifle he had stolen off a soldier that he had impressively ambushed, so now he was covering their escape.

Except they had no idea where they were going. They might have been running in circles.

If only Alex was here, Kara thought, she would know what to do. She could always keep a clear head in battle. She looked back at Mon-El, feeling disappointed that he was all they had to rely on, especially now that Kara could barely even think for herself.

Just then Kara heard a burst of static in her ear.

“Alex?” Kara said quickly, as she tried to stop running, but those people holding her up would have none of that. They would carry her whole weight if they had to.

Kara tried to focus on what she had heard. She thought she had heard a woman’s voice hidden deep within the static. Maybe she had imagined it. That seemed the most plausible answer, given how sleepy she was feeling. But she didn’t imagine hearing that static. She was sure of it. And that meant someone from Earth had come to rescue them. And Alex had to be among them. Unless she was too busy on a date with Maggie. Suddenly Kara was crying and murmuring, “No, she wouldn’t do that to me.”

Izzy on her right and the man on her left looked at her strangely. Kara felt embarrassed, and that feeling woke her up. “Sorry,” she said, then she tried really hard to run along with them.

She heard another burst of static, and this time she was sure she heard Alex’s voice. She could recognize it anywhere, even if muffled through water or behind a gag, even if she didn’t discern a single word she said, because Kara knew how Alex inflected her voice.

Hearing her voice, however faint, restored Kara’s hope.

Now she pulled herself free from the shoulders she was leaning on and ran awkwardly but under her own power.

Even if the captives couldn’t find their way out of the fortress, Alex would find them. Alex would save the day. Kara was sure of it.

***

Mon-El was alarmed when he saw Supergirl fall to the ground, and he wanted to run over to help her, but Izzy was there controlling the situation, and Mon-El knew that someone had to protect the rear.

Several Maaldorian soldiers had already tried to catch up to them, but the soldiers were disorganized, appearing one at a time, and Mon-El had killed each one that showed his ugly face.

Mon-El knew that kiling wasn’t Supergirl’s way. She would have found a way to stop them without taking a life, but Mon-El felt the weight of his responsibility too strongly to take that chance. Anyone getting in their way had better know that he was not pulling any punches.

“I see the exit!” Mon-El heard Izzy yell from behind his back, and Mon-El sighed in relief, but only a moment later, he heard Izzy add, “Oh, shit, it’s blocked off.”

Everyone started reversing direction.

Just then, a bolt of energy hit Mon-El’s rifle and he was thrown to the floor. When he looked up he saw two soldiers and a Dominator standing several yards in front of him.

Mon-El glanced back up the hall. He saw Supergirl leading everyone in his direction. He shook his head at her ominously, and she reversed direction again, even though there was nowhere for any of them to go.

A soldier aimed his gun towards Supergirl, and Mon-El stood up, blocking his aim.

A million thoughts came to him at once. He wished he could have made amends with his parents. He wished he had tried harder at so many things. He wished he had told Kara the truth: that he remembered and cherished the kiss they had shared.

Funny how sincere people get when they think it’s too late to do anything about it.

But before the soldier could pull the trigger, the Dominator pushed the soldier’s rifle aside, saying, “Not him. He is not to be harmed.”

Mon-El stumbled backward, surprised to still be alive.

The Dominator bowed subserviently towards Mon-El, as one bows to a King.

Mon-El was amazed. How did this Dominator recognize him? Did the Dominators still honor Daxam royalty even so many years after Daxam was destroyed?

While Mon-El pondered what this meant, a few other soldiers arrived, and Mon-El did not want to test this Dominator’s loyalty. Besides, they may have been willing to spare Mon-El, but they would certainly not spare Supergirl nor the Earthlings. So, Mon-El hurriedly slammed a large metal door in front of him. He picked up his weapon and fired quickly at the lock, fusing it shut, thus cutting off the Maaldorians’ attack, as well as cutting off his friends’ escape.

***

“What were you doing?” Kara asked, when Mon-El joined them in the room at the end of the hall.

“Trapping us in this room, apparently,” Mon-El answered. “Not the best plan for an escape, I confess. It worked on Star Wars when they escaped into a trash compactor.”

“Not until after they were almost crushed to pancakes,” Kara said, then she collapsed onto the floor laughing. “I can’t believe you got me making Star Wars jokes. You know there are other movies besides those Winn talks about.”

“Star Wars seems educational right now,” Mon-El said while kneeling in front of her. He wiped the hair from her eyes and he saw an unstable, manic person rather than the hero she was just a moment before, when they were in a hurry.

“Are you alright?” he asked, trying to get her to look at him.

Finally, she did, and she nodded. “Alex is coming,” she said simply.

Mon-El raised his eyebrows skeptically.

“Really, she is,” Kara said while straightening up, so she didn’t seem so delusional. “I could hear her in my earpiece. The DEO is on this planet. Uh, I mean this moon.”

“Oh!” Mon-El said while sitting back against the wall beside her. “So maybe waiting is the best plan after all.”

“Maybe,” Kara said while closing her eyes. “I really need a moment of rest. I feel so sore.”

“I’m not surprised. You were … inspiring back there, Supergirl, but they really hit you hard.”

“Kara,” she corrected while leaning into him. “Please call me Kara.”

“OK, Kara,” he said while putting an arm around her.

“Why are you so … so …”, she said while laughing awkwardly and looking up at his face, which was only a few inches away from hers. “So difficult.”

Mon-El shrugged in his usual carefree way, but his eyes were locked onto hers.

His lips were right there, so she leaned up and kissed him.

She meant for it to be a quick peck, but it lingered and he didn’t pull away.

So she angled her head for fuller, more intimate contact, and he kissed her back, and their hands moved to each other’s sides, posturing for a full embrace, when Kara opened her eyes and saw that everyone in the room was staring at them.

Her whole body shook as she suddenly became alert.

“I’m sorry,” she said while quickly extricating herself from Mon-El’s influence.

“Ok,” Mon-El answered compliantly.

“I’m just a little out of it,” Supergirl said, trying to convince everyone.

That little drama was forgotten in an instant when an explosion shook the whole room. The source of the concussion was beyond the hallway they had just escaped from.

“Alex,” Kara said hopefully.

Everyone ran towards the heavy metal door.

Mon-El grabbed the laser rifle and fired several times at the melted lock, hoping to melt it completely off, but instead, it was just turning into a molten mess.

“Everyone push,” Kara suggested, so the three of them who were closest to the door pushed, carefully avoiding the red-hot area around the lock. Behind them, others pushed against the people in the front. The door started to budge, but the metal was slowly turning solid again. Then one man gave the lock a swift kick; part of the door frame broke away, and the door flung open.

Everyone bumped into each other as they filed their way into the hall and ran to the end, where smoke was rolling into view on the ceiling.

When they turned the corner, they saw a troop of Maaldorian soldiers crumpled on the ground, and a troop of DEO agents just behind them.

“Hey, we know her!” said one agent joyfully, while the agent right beside him leaped forward and surrounded Kara in an embrace.

***

Alex held Kara tightly, while Kara’s arms fell limply around Kara’s waist.

“You found us,” Kara said thankfully.

“Always,” Alex promised, as she pulled back slightly. Their faces were only two inches apart, and the moment seemed very quiet.

Alex thought Kara was going to kiss her.

Kara thought Alex would start.

Mon-El, for the first time, finally understood. Maybe that kiss they had shared just a moment before was not meant for him. Maybe it was meant for Alex.

But the girls didn’t kiss. They wanted to. They both knew it. But they would never admit it, even if the truth was laid bare for all to see. Except for them. They pressed their foreheads against each other and stared into each other’s eyes and started the lie again.

They were sisters. They would always be sisters.

Alex broke away from the moment first.

“We gotta hurry. Winn’s waiting for us, and he’s a little jittery,” Alex said.

“You brought Winn … here?” Kara asked, trying to pretend that they hadn’t shared a moment.

“Must be a dream come true for him, being the sci-fi fan that he is,” Mon-El said.

“Not so much,” Alex yelled back.

Everyone hurried to keep up with Alex as she ran ahead, but Kara wasn’t the only person who was drained of energy by this point. Eventually, everyone was succumbing to the heavy gravity, so within a few minutes, their run slowed to a fast walk.

Then they heard a blaster fire behind them, and another, and instantly they found their second winds.

As they approached the portal, Mon-El saw a soldier hiding off to the side, and another was engaging Winn in battle. They were not in the clear yet.

Winn downed the soldier with a right hook, aided by a good-sized stone. He celebrated his victory, yelling, “Hey! Hey! Did you see that? I’m a badass! I am not a red shirt!”

Nice Star Trek reference, Mon-El thought, but he had a different movie in mind. “Start the car!” he yelled as everyone was rapidly approaching the portal. “Start the car!”

Winn spun around and frantically pressed buttons and swiped on the control screen.

And the port blazed in a bright, beautiful blue glow.

Quickly, one escapee after another returned to Earth in an instant, starting with the fastest and ending with those who could barely even walk.

Suddenly, from behind a rock, a soldier stood up with a rifle trained right at Kara’s head.

And just as suddenly, that soldier was shot to the ground by another Maaldorian.

Alex, in stunned confusion, raised her rifle at the shooter, but Kara pushed her weapon down, saying, “No, not him.”

“Jo help carbon forms,” Jo said as he stepped out from his hiding place, starting to bargain. “Carbon forms get Jo off planet forever?”

“Yes,” Kara said gratefully. They wouldn’t have succeeded without him. “And carbon forms agree. Just go. Hurry!”

Winn and Alex looked at Kara like she was going crazy, letting that creature through, but Mon-El gave him a pat on the back. Then the Maaldorian left his home world for a chance at freedom.

There were only two escapees left: an older man who had twisted his ankle during the escape, and Izzy who was helping him reach the finish line.

But before they could cross that invisible yellow tape, a mechanical space fighter swooped in from above, drawing everyone’s attention. During that distraction, a soldier jumped from behind another rock and grabbed Izzy while she was still about twenty yards away.

“No!” Kara yelled, as she stumbled forward. Izzy was the only reason why she had started this mission in the first place, and Izzy had proven to be worthy of saving, but Kara’s muscles were already stiffening after standing still for less than a minute. She had nothing left in the tank. She felt that defeat was about to be snatched from the jaws of victory.

“Wait!” Mon-El called out, and he stumbled after her. He was in no shape for a rescue, either, but he had to be a better choice than Kara at that moment.

Alex reached out to stop Mon-El. “Don’t go,” she said as she removed a shiny orb that was attached to her belt. “Let’s hope this thing works.”

Alex tossed the solar grenade into the air, landing right at Kara’s feet. It burst in a blinding flash of white light. Or very, very bright yellow light.

Mon-El felt a wave of energy sweep over him, but Kara was right at ground zero, so she was super-charged. She floated up into the air. There were no stress lines under her eyes anymore. No more slouch. She held her head high, looking totally herself again. She looked glorious.

“Wow,” Mon-El said. “What was that?”

“Solar grenade,” Alex replied. “A little piece of home. Earth, that is. Not Krypton.”

The space fighter swooped in to attack the new threat, but a quick blast of Supergirl’s heat vision detonated its fuel cell, sending it to the ground in a thousand pieces.

After that incredible show of power, all Supergirl needed to do was redirect her glowing eyes at the soldier holding Izzy hostage, and he let her go. He ran for the hills, dropping his weapon and soiling his uniform for good measure.

Supergirl swooped down and landed in front of Izzy, and she gave her a big hug. “I’m so glad you’re OK.”

When she pulled back, Izzy was smiling, but in a funny way, as if to ask, “what’s so special about me?”

“Don’t you know that you are everything to your mom?” she answered. “But we’d better hurry.”

The effect of the solar grenade was already wearing off.

Izzy nodded and then lept halfway across the galaxy in a single bound.

Then Mon-El followed.

Then Alex

“C’mon,” Winn pulled Kara’s cape. “Before the portal closes.”

Kara remained behind a moment longer, searching for anyone they might have missed. But her powers were already gone, so at last, she joined her friends on Earth, and they shut down the portal permanently.

 


	4. Dancing Around The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes don't get any resolutions. They don't nail down the truth. But they do decide that it's better to choose a lane rather than stay in the middle of the road.

The next day could not have gone any better. Almost.

Izzy was reunited with her mother. They each apologized for the petty differences that led up to the kidnapping, but those concerns had disintegrated so that only now their love for each other remained. Kara stood and watched and tried to hide the tears welling in her eyes. Nothing pulled at her heart strings more than seeing a mother and daughter reunited.

When Kara returned to CatCo, she had the perfect opportunity to gloat in front of Snapper. She had written up a fantastic news story about Supergirl’s rescue of twelve people who were kidnapped and sold as slaves a hundred light years away. She had interviewed witnesses galore and with the aid of Jo Gunraf had quickly compiled a history of the slave trade in that part of the galaxy. She even took some guilty pleasure in pointing out to Snapper that none of this would have been possible had she followed his advice and given up on the supposed “runaway cliché”. She stood her ground, asserting that following her heart was her strength as a reporter, not her weakness. Snapper seemed unimpressed, but Kara smiled when her newly restored super-hearing revealed that he was secretly proud of her growth as a reporter.

Back at the DEO, everyone was ecstatic. Their mission had been an unqualified success, having stopped the slave trade on this side of the galaxy, and having saved the lives of every kidnap victim, and then saving their favorite Kryptonian and Daxamite to boot. There was not a frown to be found anywhere.

Yet after the initial euphoria, deep reservoirs of unsaid wishes and feelings restored the broken human condition.

Kara and Alex had decided to spend the night together, just the two of them. They both had the same unsaid idea. They had both decided to clear the air. But as they reminisced about their college adventures and fights with Eliza and sorrowful memories of Jeremiah, something happened: they couldn’t change how they talked to each other. They couldn’t open that door. They dared not entertain any change. By the end of the night, they had forgotten their feelings of freedom and possibilities earlier in the day. They finally separated after professing their love. As sisters.

***

The following night, Alex paced about her apartment. She was worried that Maggie wouldn’t show up. She was also worried that Maggie would.

Finally, she heard a knock on the door. She hesitated. She wasn’t sure who she most wanted to see on the other side. She checked the peephole. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

Maggie was standing outside, arms to her side and caution in her eyes.

Alex leaned against the door, saying, “Thank you for coming.”

Maggie looked away but entered the apartment saying, “I almost didn’t.”

Alex slowly closed the door, appearing afraid to have this conversion.

Maggie noticed. “I just don’t think you are ready for this.”

“No no no, I am,” Alex lied, but she wanted to believe it. She walked forward as Maggie took a step back. “Hey, I just … I am ready, but I just went kind of crazy, and I just … I feel like the universe is smacking me down from being happy.”

“That’s it?” Maggie said, disappointed. “You gotta give me more than that.”

“I can’t tell you everything,” Alex said, trying to hide behind her secret agent cloak of confidentiality. “You see, I’ve always felt so responsible. Like the-weight of-the-world kind of responsible. And my parents always relied on me to watch over my sister, so the few times I’ve ever done anything for myself, it ended badly. And then Supergirl went missing and I just … I just blew a gasket, and ...”

“Because Supergirl is your sister,” Maggie finished impatiently.

Alex was stunned. She wasn’t sure how to feel about Maggie knowing, but no matter how she felt, she couldn’t just give up Kara’s identity like that. She tried to put on her best confused face and said, “What are you talking about?”

“Come on,” Maggie shook her head and smiled. “Look, I know you. The ONLY person you get that torn up over is Kara.”

Alex struggled to keep her face flat, but that was a giveaway itself. She looked away. Another give away. There was no good lie. She was caught.

“Plus, the glasses don’t help,” Maggie added, trying to give Alex an out.

Alex’s face still kept fighting to lie, even as she said, “I always said that, too. Those glasses are kind of ridiculous.”

When Alex finally found the strength to meet Maggie’s eye, she saw that Maggie was just patiently waiting for her to come around. They started laughing together.

Then the two women just looked at each other as if for the first time.

“I’m…” Alex started but then hesitated to evaluate her own feelings and how honest she really wanted to be with Maggie. “I’m glad you know, because… because I don’t want there to be any secrets.”

Maggie’s face turned serious. Secrets were like ice floating on the ocean, hiding icebergs underneath, and Maggie had a sharp eye for such threats.

Alex looked down, finally admitting to herself that maybe she couldn’t handle this.

“You have to be honest with yourself and honest with Kara before you can be honest with me,” Maggie said knowingly. “Hey, maybe you aren’t ready for this. Maybe nobody is. But you are here.”

Alex bit her lip and looked at Maggie humbly. She didn’t know what to say. She stepped forward, but she didn’t presume anything.

Maggie was hesitant. “I know, bad stuff happens. In our line of work, it happens all the time. How do I know you won’t run the next time it does?”

“I won’t,” Alex promised sincerely. She wasn’t sure she totally understood her feelings for Kara, but at that moment she was quite sure how she felt about Maggie. “And I’m sorry. I just want to be happy … with you.”

Maggie was not convinced, but she was touched. “You get one, Alex,” she said, forgiving but firm.

Alex smiled thankfully. “Understood.”

They hugged each other gently, not passionately but warmly. As tears streamed down Alex’s face, she wondered, “Is this love?”

***

Across town, Kara was sitting on her couch, once again watching TV alone. Once again, Law and Order SVU was playing. She hadn’t chosen it this time. She just hadn’t changed the channel, and that channel was apparently playing an SVU marathon all week. Kara let the endlessly sad drama refill her life.

Then she was distracted by a knock on the door. When she looked up, she saw Mon-El standing on the other side holding what appeared to be a bottle of wine.

Kara sat stiff on the couch for a moment. She didn’t know how to feel about this, and her mind scrambled for what to do. She put her hands on her head to make sure her hair was okay. She shut off the TV so he wouldn’t get the wrong idea that she liked shows like that. She grabbed an empty container of ice cream and stuffed it in an empty vase on her coffee table. Then she looked at her clothes: a t-shirt with tight sweatpants. What would he think about that? Would he get the wrong idea? She grabbed a pajama top and wore it like a jacket. Then she just stared at the door, thanking Rao that he didn’t have x-ray vision and couldn’t see how she was fretting. At last, she sighed and answered the door.

There Mon-El stood, wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, and that trademark dopey look on his face. What he was holding definitely wasn’t a bottle of wine, and she smiled when she recognized it.

“Hi,” she greeted with a smile.

Mon-El gestured to the bottle humbly and said, “Club soda.”

“I see, thank you,” Kara laughed and urged him inside.

“I finally found it,” he said while following her. He looked her over with a glance. “You look cozy and comfortable.”

“I am,” Kara said, happy with his observation.

“So …” Mon-El sounded a bit more serious. “You still feeling ‘betwixt and between’?”

“No,” Kara said, pausing for a moment. She had been just a few minutes ago, but not now. Her smile felt completely genuine. “No, I feel amazing!”

“Good, good,” Mon-El replied, looking relieved and almost too sincere.

Kara swallowed because the fun talk was taking on an edge of seriousness. She asked, “So what brings you by?”

“Oh, you know,” Mon-El started, searching for an honest lie. “Some shopping.  
A little evening stroll.”

Kara sat down on her couch and invited him to sit beside her. She was going to sit facing forward, but instead, she dared to curl up sideways and pull a blanket over herself, just like she would have done if she had been with Alex instead of Mon-El. She bit her lip, unsure of what he would do.

Mon-El eyed her curiously and decided to do likewise. He sat facing her, and he crossed his legs so that they brushed against hers under the blanket, and he pulled the other end of the blanket up to his waist.

Kara laughed. He was acting so playfully.

“So, I, um,” Mon-El said, trying to get closer to the truth without spoiling the mood. “I was wrong. That’s what I wanted to say.”

Kara stared at him amused. “About? Because, you know, the list of things you were wrong about is… it’s long.”

“Yes, long list,” Mon-El squirmed under the blanket. “Ummm, I was wrong about not getting involved.”

Kara swallowed. _Involved with what_? she thought, as she remembered him kissing her when he was feeling weak. Then she remembered kissing HIM when SHE was feeling weak.

But that wasn’t what he had in mind. He confessed, “When I saw you with those people on Slaver’s Moon…. I mean, there wasn’t much to inspire me on Daxam.”

“Oh,” Kara said, feeling flattered and thankful and disappointed all at once. “What about the prince?”

Mon-El looked almost hurt when he answered, “He wasn’t worth admiring. But I want to be. So… that’s the next thing. I’ve made a decision.”

“Sounds … decisive,” Kara said, leaning in close. She felt privileged to be included in any of his decisions.

“Yes, very decisive,” Mon-El agreed. Kara raised her eyes expectantly, but Mon-El milked the moment before finally saying, “I want to be a hero. You know, a superhero.”

Kara flinched. “Say what?”

“Like you,” he clarified. “With a name and an outfit … maybe a cape.”

Kara snickered. “You want the suit.”

“No, no,” Mon-El protested, while a smile slowly crept across his face. “Uh, ok, yes I want the suit, but no, no, I want to get my hands dirty, you know, like I want to DO something.”

Kara had been smiling and laughing, because Mon-El as always talked like he was joking, but there was a quiver in his voice, and Kara furrowed her brow. “You’re serious?”

“Yeah,” he answered with gravity.

“Well, obviously you have the strength, but if you take this road, easy is over,” Kara warned.

“I don’t want easy,” Mon-El reassured.

“The cape can get heavy sometimes.”

“I want a heavy cape,” Mon-El countered with a straight face.

“Come on!” Kara insisted with a gentle swat on his leg and a laugh.

Mon-El nodded firmly. “Yes, I know, with great power comes great responsibility.”

Kara smiled, but she remained serious, “and you can’t go around quoting movies all of the time.”

Mon-El shrugged. “Maybe that can be my thing. Mon-El the Movie Maven.”

Kara joked right back, “The movie studios will sue you every time you save someone.”

“Yeah,” Mon-El said, now completely serious. “You know … I just want to help you … keep the world spinning. I want to prove that I was spared for a reason.”

Kara nodded and looked into his eyes. Part of her knew that he was auditioning for more than just a superhero apprenticeship, and she took that other role just as seriously.

“You’re going to have to listen to me,” she insisted.

Mon-El feigned a thoughtful look and faltered: “Pfft.” Then he looked up to make sure she knew he was kidding. Then he murmured, “I will listen to you.”

Kara laughed, but all of his jokings made her wonder.

“I will,” he insisted emphatically. “This time, I really I will.”

Then he tried to change the subject by taking the bottle of club soda and a clean looking glass off the coffee table. “I listened to you at the bar, and now finally I will serve that glass of club soda.”

“Oh! Oh!” Kara suddenly remembered. “I’ve got something for you, too!”

Mon-El was puzzled. “Really? You were expecting me?”

“Not exactly.” Kara smiled mischievously as she quickly snuck across the room and back before Mon-El could finish his thoughts. “I just saw the perfect gift, and I had to buy it.”

Kara pulled a magazine out of a Barnes & Noble bag and handed it to Mon-El.

“What’s that?” Mon-El asked, then he exploded in laughter when he saw the cover of the Highlights magazine. “Wow! For me? My very own?”

Kara nodded with a smile, and she just watched his face.

Mon-El beamed as he looked at the children’s magazine, but he couldn’t help but wonder what message she was sending to him. “Can I ask why?”

“Oh, I just thought it was funny,” Kara replied, but that wasn’t explanation enough. She struggled to tell Mon-El the real reason. Why was it so hard for her to be nice to Mon-El? Why did she sometimes feel better when being mean? “Well, that and .... well, yesterday you were a little less Goofus and a little more Galant.”

“Oh, you noticed,” Mon-El said, seeming touched by the muted compliment. “I’ll take it.”

Kara could tell he wanted to kiss her right then, but she wasn’t ready. She blocked that thought by offering a childish fist bump, which Mon-El gladly accepted.

But then things got very quiet, as they thought about why Mon-El was really here. At night. Both of them under a blanket on her couch. Together.

Mon-El was up at bat. He made it to the big leagues. Could he play every day, or was he just a pinch hitter? She could at least throw him a few pitches.

“So, well, you are here,” Kara started. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

“Uh, sure,” Mon-El said, surprised and honored. “What do you have in mind? Action? Comedy? Chick-flick?”

Kara shook her head in disgust, “Uh, no, I hate that word. How about a musical?”

Mon-El acted like he’d never heard of a musical before.

Kara explained, “I know, it’s not something Winn would have shown you. A musical has a lot of music, of course, and dancing … and don’t you dare call it a chick-flick!”

Mon-El laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Okay, a musical it is. What have we got?”


End file.
